Says collections rose 19%, not 76%
A day after a government official said advance tax collections from corporate jumped 76.8 per cent in the first quarter, Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Prakash Chandra clarified the increase was just around 19 per cent.
The tax department has received Rs 31,262 crore till yesterday, against Rs 26,293 crore a year ago, he said.
Yesterday, a finance ministry official said advance payments till June 16 stood at Rs 30,399 crore, which represents a 76.8 per cent growth, year-on-year.
CBDT officials explained while the absolute figure is correct, the comparison was incorrect. According to them, the figure which comes on June 16 now may have come two-three days later last year. This was due to the much advanced online tax accounting system (OLTAS). As such, comparing June 16 this year with the last year was not a correct method.
Last year too, the growth was around 19 per cent as on comparable date, the officials said. For the entire last financial year, advance tax collections growth was 22 per cent.
The CBDT chairman said tax deducted at source grew by 27 per cent, divided into 25 per cent growth in personal income tax and 31 per cent in corporate tax. Last year, personal income tax TDS grew at 20 per cent and corporate income TDS declined by five per cent.
So far, as the whole direct gross tax collections are concerned, the tax department has collected over Rs 1 lakh crore till yesterday, which is 24 per cent growth year-on-year, Chandra said.
Since refunds are huge at Rs 40,797 crore, which is 190 per cent more than a year ago, net collection was just Rs over 60,000 crore, almost flat compared to the corresponding period last year, he said.
As advance tax collections growth is not as high as was reported initially, does it mean that CBDT may not be able to achieve the target set for this year, because of slowdown in some sectors. Chandra did not agree to it. "I don't think so. Our total target for the entire year is over Rs 5.32 lakh crore. I don't have any doubt that we will not only reach it, but could exceed it as well," he said.
The chairman said a proposal to exempt those earning Rs 500,000 a year from filing returns is being vetted by the law ministry.
CBDT sources said the Central Information Branch, a wing of intelligence unit under the Income Tax Department, will have powers to check high value transactions, particularly those reported without permanent account number.
