Income tax collection up 20 per cent

Income-tax collection in West Bengal has registered a growth of 20 per cent so far in the current fiscal. The total collection as on date amounted to Rs 4396 crore, said Sudeep Ray, chief commissioner of income-tax (IT), Kolkata-1.

"Corresponding to the increased collection this year, we are targeting a total collection of Rs 11,666 crore in the current financial year," he added.

Overall collection target across the country was fixed at Rs 2,67,490 crore.

Roy attributed the improved performance to the overall buoyancy of the economy and widening of the tax base.

The department has also surpassed last year's overall collection in terms of disclosure amount.

"We have conducted 13 search cases this year and the total amount of disclosure was Rs 18,476.13 lakh while the overall disclosure last year was Rs 15,537.56 lakh," Roy said.

While assets worth Rs 2313.02 lakh were seized during the search operations, which similar to the figures of the corresponding period last year. The major sectors where the search was conducted were mining, sponge and cement manufacturing, aluminium extrusions, coal handling, real estate and TMT bars, he added.

To ensure timely tax refunds, the IT department, would start the "Refund Bankers' Scheme", from October 1 at Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata.

"We have made an arrangement with the State Bank of India (SBI) to credit refunds directly to the account of individual tax payers," said Ray.

Before implementation, the scheme was tested successfully on a pilot basis, in Delhi and Patna.

Refunds would be credited to the accounts of the individuals directly the bank to the through the electronic clearing service (ECS).

"First this facility would be available to salaried persons and subsequently we would like to extend it to the other payers as well," Roy said.

For the assessees without an account, SBI would send the refund to the given address, he added.

Roy said, "At the moment, we had tied up with SBI only but subsequently with the increase in the volume of transaction, we would tap other banks for the same service."

SBI would be charging Rs 5 per entry for normal account clearance and Rs 8 for payment through cheques at the postal address of the individuals.

The commissioner stressed that the department would encourage on e-filing of returns by the individuals, which would make the refund processing faster.

"All our 13 offices at Kolkata are connected through network and within three months 28 offices of the state, outside Kolkata would be connected," he added.