Government Meets 65% Of Direct Tax Collection Target In April-January

The government met nearly two-thirds of its direct tax collection target for the ongoing financial year even as it revised upwards the earlier budgeted goal.

The net direct tax collections during the April-January period stood at Rs 7.88 lakh crore, close to 65 percent of the total revised budget estimate of Rs 12 lakh crore, according to a response shared in Parliament. That’s more than a 14 percent year-on-year rise from Rs 6.89 lakh crore collected in during April 1, 2017-Jan. 15, 2018.

Net direct taxes are adjusted for refunds. The government, however, didn’t share the gross direct tax collections, and the mop-up under various heads like corporate and personal income taxes.

In the interim budget for 2019-20, the government revised its direct tax target collection target to Rs 12 lakh crore from Rs 11.50 lakh crore budgeted earlier. That’s because the tax department expects an additional of Rs 50,000 crore from corporate tax by the end of financial year 2018-19.

In 2017-18, the government had collected a total direct tax of Rs 10.02 lakh crore against the revised budgeted target of Rs 10.04 lakh crore.