Chhattisgarh, MP I-T collection falls short of target

Income tax collections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh fell short of the Rs 4519 crore target by Rs 798 crore. "The Income tax office had collected Rs 3721 crore till March 2006," AK Luthra said.

Tax collection in Bhopal fell short of the Rs 2020 crore target by a minuscule 17 crore. "But our tax collection has gone up by 23.03 per cent over the previous year's Rs 1628 crore and we have collected 99.16 per cent of the target," Luthra said.

The advance tax collection, according to him, has gone up by a whopping 182.85 per cent from Rs 333.85 crore to Rs 861.24 crore.

Similarly tax deducted at sources, has gone up from Rs 274.44 crore to Rs 648.51 crore, showing a 73.19 per cent increase.

The number of taxpayers went up by 9,979 over the previous year. It went up from 14,978 to 24,957 payers. "But we are still falling short of national average of 2.75 per cent," Luthra admitted.

During the year 2005-06, a total of 5,61,322 returns were filed which is 11.88 per cent more than 5,01,075 of the previous year.

The information technology department in Bhopal refunded 164.69 crore in 67193 cases. A public sector firm filed a return of Rs 2424.20 crore.

"This is the biggest amount in the state," said MR Luthra. "A firm filed 3.55 crore income tax return and an individual filed 3.38 crore income tax return," he added.

He also said a case of Rs 8 crore is pending on an individual which is under consideration. "The party has assured us that he will correct the return and will pay taxes, which we will disclose later," Luthra said.