The government has uncollected revenue of over Rs 1.24 lakh crore in respect of corporate and income taxes at the end of 2007-08, a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report said.
"Uncollected amount of Rs 1,24,274 crore in respect of corporation and income tax comprised demand of Rs 86,859 crore of earlier years and current demand of Rs 37,415 crore for 2007-08," said the report tabled in Parliament today.
It said in terms of corporation tax the arrears increased to Rs 68,662 crore in 2007-08 from Rs 55,098 crore in 2005-06, while income tax arrears increased to Rs 55,612 crore in 2007-08 from Rs 40,289 crore.
During 2007-08, against Rs 36,057 crore certified By Tax recovery Officer for recovery, only Rs 8,612 crore (23.98 per cent) could be recovered. There was an improvement in recovery from 14.01 per cent in 2005-06 to 24.2 per cent in 2006-07 and a marginal decline to 23.89 per cent in 2007-08.
The report further said the government had collected Rs 1.03 lakh crore of income tax during the year which accounted for more than 32 per cent of the total direct tax collection.
The number of income tax assesses as on March 2008 were 3.32 crore, registering an increase of 7.34 per cent over last year.
It also said that the government suffered a revenue loss of Rs 1,257 crore in 2007-08 because the I-T department did not collect taxes.
