Bhopal now has more income tax payers

There has been a surge in the number of taxpayers in Bhopal. The department of income tax has achieved 41 per cent of the 2005-06 tax collection target in Bhopal, Jabalpur and Gwalior.

The number of returns received by the department has gone up by 18.24 per cent. Last year, on August 31, the figure was 301,071.

However this year, on August 31, the figure stood at 355,997.The department today claimed that of the total Rs 1,967 crore budget allocated to chief commissioner, income tax Bhopal charge, Ashwini Kumar Luthra, a collection of Rs 808 crore has been achieved.

Luthra said, "The tax collection will go up to Rs 2,000 crore during this financial year."

He said: "The advance tax is up by 224.41 per cent, from Rs 333.85 crore in last March to Rs 1,083.68 crore in this March. The advance tax collection in one year has gone up by 14.40 per cent. The advance tax collection stood at Rs 416.86 crore on September 26 last year and has increased to Rs 476.88 crore by September 26 this year."

According to Luthra, the tax deducted at source has gone up by 68.88 per cent during 2005-06 from Rs 374.44 crore to Rs 632.35 crore. The refunds issued up to September 26 this year have gone up by 167 per cent to Rs 124 crore from Rs 46.44 crore.

The number of returns has gone up by 36.12 per cent in Bhopal from 96,588 last year to 131,472 this year, 11.65 per cent in Gwalior from 61,194 to 69,260, 4.7 per cent in Jabalpur-I region from 75,205 to 78,911 and 10.83 per cent from 68,084 to 76,354.