India’s net direct tax collections have crossed ₹7 lakh crore so far this year, 23.33% higher than the same period last year, signalling a clear post-pandemic rebound in the economy, the Finance Ministry said on Sunday.
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Net direct tax collections as on Saturday stood at ₹7,00,669 crore, compared to ₹5,68,147 crore as of September 17, 2021, with corporate taxes inflow constituting little over a half of the kitty at ₹3,68,484 crore. Personal Income Tax and the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) have yielded ₹3.3 lakh crore.
“Direct tax collections continue to grow at a robust pace, a clear indicator of the revival of economic activity post pandemic, as also the result of the stable policies of the Government, focusing on simplification and streamlining of processes and plugging of tax leakage through effective use of technology,” the Ministry said in a statement.
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Gross Direct Tax revenues were 30.2% higher than the same period of 2021-22, at ₹8,36,225 crore. This included Corporation Tax of ₹4.36 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax, including STT of ₹3,98,440 crore. Tax Deducted at Source accounted for over ₹4.34 lakh crore of the gross Tax kitty, while Self-Assessment Tax was ₹77,164 crore.
Advance tax collections
Advance tax collections stood at ₹2,95,308 crore, 17% higher than the corresponding period of 2021-22, with corporate tax contributing a little over ₹2.29 lakh crore and personal income tax inflows, bringing in the rest of the ₹66,176 crore.
The Ministry said there has been a “remarkable increase in the speed of processing of income tax returns filed during the current financial year” with almost 93% of the duly verified ITRs having been processed till September 17.
“This has resulted in faster issue of refunds with almost a 468% increase in the number of refunds issued in the current financial year. Refunds amounting to ₹1,35,556 crore have been issued till 17.09.2022, as against refunds of ₹74,140 crore issued during the corresponding period in the preceding financial Year 2021-22, showing a growth of over 83%,” the statement said.
Regular Assessment Tax contributed ₹20,080 crore to the gross direct tax collections and tax under other minor heads brought in another ₹8,933 crore.