Despite the current economic downturn and acute shortage in manpower, the West Bengal income tax department has managed to achieve a 23.8 per cent growth in net tax collection, collecting a total of Rs 10,317 crore till 31st January 2009.
Addressing at a press conference, T K Chatterjee, chief commissioner, Kolkata Income Tax department, said “Income tax collection in the circle has trebled in the last five years.The income tax collection this year has gone up to Rs 10,317 crore till January 31, 2009 in the Bengal circle, as against Rs 8,330 crore last fiscal."
"Despite huge manpower crunch, the state Income tax department has managed to achieve this 23.8 per cent growth in overall tax collection. While the all India growth in tax collection is pegged at 12.9 pe rcent, West Bengal has managed to achieve almost double the national average.In all fronts, be it TDS, advance tax collection, regular assessment, personal income tax, West Bengal was much better positioned than last year." he further said.
However, he also added that the state IT collection would have been in a much better position if there would be more manpower available, the income tax department here was working under severe shortage.
"Although the sanctioned number of joint and additional commissioners for the Bengal circle is 128, the department has a working strength of only 42 joint and additional commissioners. Similarly, the sanctioned number of assistant and deputy commissioners for the circle is 220 while there are only 141 of them working at present, besides there is a shortage of 122 income tax officers.
We have written to the Central Board of Direct Taxes several times, but for some reason best known to the board, it is not listening to us," said Chatterjee. The increase in tax collection was attributed to increased tax awareness,effective raids conducted by the state IT department, better monitoring of advance taxes, better TDS performance and better utilisation of available manpower, besides increase in the number of assessees.
The total number of assessees in the Bengal circle is around 24 lakh, which is growing at the rate of 10 per cent every year, estimated to be almost 24 lakhs, at present. The increase in tax collection in the current financial year was on the back of a 22 per cent increase in corporate tax collection and 32 per cent growth in personal income tax (PIT) collection, informed Chatterjee.
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Of the Rs 10, 317 crore, corporate tax contributed Rs 7,022 crore and the rest, Rs 2,954, crore came from PIT. Corporations paid Rs 7,022 crore tax on their profit earnings upto January 31, 2009, reflecting an increase of 22 per cent over the same period a year ago. The PIT collection in the current financial year so far, had showed a growth of 32 per cent to Rs 2,954 crore, informed Chatterjee.
This apart,TDS collection has also gone up 35.07 per cent to Rs 3,714 crore compared to Rs 2,750 crore in the same period in 2007-08. Although the state IT department made a total tax refund of Rs 1,307 crore to the corporate sector till December 2008 compared to Rs 1,148 crore in the year ago period, the tax refunds to individual income tax assessees was lower at Rs 234 crore as against Rs 333 crore in 2007-08.
Advance tax payment and tax paid through self-assessment, both, grew significantly. Advance tax payment till January 31, 2009 was higher at Rs 5,237 crore (Rs 4,807 crore), while tax paid under self-assessment was Rs 1,349 crore compared to Rs 898 crore in the previous corresponding period, Chatterjee pointed out. Around Rs 289 crore was collected as fringe benefit tax, 0.7 crore as securities transaction tax, 19.4 crore as banking cash Transaction tax and 30.6 crore as other taxes.
Chatterjee, however, pointed out that despite the manpower handicap, the income tax department had shown tremendous growth, income tax collection in 2003-04 was Rs 4,682 crore while at the end of January 2009, it stood at Rs 10316 crore and the collection target for the entire financial year was pegged at Rs 15,639 crore.
The growth in tax collection during the last five years came largely on the back of the corporate sector. Income tax paid by corporations went up from Rs 2,730 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 7,022 crore at the end of January 2009, while individual tax payers paid Rs 2,954 crore tax in the first 10 months of the current financial year as against Rs 1,952 crore in 2003-04.