The government's direct tax collection in May this fiscal recorded a 16.88 per cent jump at Rs 11,919 crore this fiscal from Rs 10,198 crore in the same month last year.
However, the collection for April declined by 3.19 per cent to Rs 12,239 crore against Rs 12,642 crore a year ago.
Officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes said that the direct tax kitty has started looking up in May.
In the first two months of this fiscal, direct tax collections rose by 5.77 per cent from Rs 22,840 crore in the same period last fiscal, according to the figures released by the government today.
In April and May, total corporate tax collections grew by 5.56 per cent to Rs 8,578 crore compared to Rs 8,126 crore in the same months last year. Personal income tax collections also grew to Rs 15,559, up about 6 per cent compared to Rs 14,690 crore.
Although, Securities Transaction Tax and Fringe Benefit Tax collections declined by 24.75 to Rs 7,995 crore in the April-May period this fiscal over the same period last year.
The government's direct tax kitty missed the revised Budget target of Rs 3.45 lakh crore for 2008-09 by Rs 6,000 crore.
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The government in the interim Budget has projected the direct tax kitty to grow to Rs 3.79 lakh crore this fiscal.
The statement said that the refund outgo during the two-month period had improved with refunds to non-corporate tax payers growing at 61.7 per cent at Rs 2,149 crore compared to Rs 1,329 crore in the same period last year.
The growth in refunds was due to faster processing or returns on the new national computer network, the statement added.