The Hindu Business Line : Bengal Zone I-T collections rise 98% in April-July

THE net income-tax collections, including both corporation tax and income-tax, achieved by the Bengal zone for the four months ended July 31, 2005, of the current fiscal has witnessed a 98 per cent jump at Rs 1,240 crore compared with Rs 627 crore in the same period of last financial year.

In addition to this, Rs 35 crore has been collected on the fringe benefits tax (FBT) front.

The gross collections (both corporation taxand I-T) for the period under review has increased to Rs 1,614 crore (Rs 1,575 crore in the previous four-month period).

Against a targeted net corporation tax collection of Rs 4,906 crore for 2005-06, Rs 849.49 crore for the said period has been achieved, against Rs 50.43 crore for the same period of last fiscal.

The collection on the I-T front was, however, down at Rs 390 crore (Rs 576.77 crore).

The total net collection target for 2005-06 for the zone is Rs 7,656 crore.

However, in the case of refunds in corporation tax, the net payout as on July 31 is much lower at Rs 259.50 crore compared to Rs 859.60 crore. The refunds in the case of I-T, however, is higher at Rs 114.56 crore (Rs 88.46 crore).

Talking to Business Line here today, Mr P.C. Sinha, Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax, Kolkata-1, said the refund trend may quite easily change for the remaining quarters of the current fiscal, and therefore too much should not be read into the increase in collections.

He, however, clarified that the collection trend for the rest of the year looked quite encouraging, given the headstart.

He put the advance tax collection up to June 30 at a higher Rs 495 crore (Rs 416 crore). He added that he was confident of maintaining a steady growth of around 20 per cent in direct tax collections in the Bengal zone.

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