The Hindu Business Line : Direct tax collections continue to be buoyant

The Centre's net direct tax collections continue to remain buoyant and has recorded a growth of 38.3 per cent during April 1-October 28 this year. The collections have increased to Rs 91,374 crore, compared with Rs 66,069 crore in the same period last year.

If this trend continueslike this, the direct tax collections would exceed the budgeted target, Mr A.K. Sinha, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) spokesperson, told reporters here on Wednesday.

Target

The Centre has pegged the direct tax collection target at Rs 2,10,000 crore for 2006-07, which is about 27.70 per cent more than the Rs 1,64,500 crore in 2005-06.

While corporate tax collections during April 1-October 28 this year has increased by 45.42 per cent to Rs 55,549 crore (Rs 38,199 crore), the personal income-tax collections (including fringe benefit tax) increased by 25.13 per cent to Rs 32,886 crore (Rs 26,281 crore). Fringe benefit tax collections increased by 23.5 per cent to Rs 2,127 crore (Rs 1,722 crore).

The `other taxes' collections stood at Rs 2,939 crore (Rs 1,589 crore). This includes banking cash transaction tax (BCTT) and securities transaction tax (STT).

While STT collections for the period under review stood at Rs 2,556 crore (Rs 1,304 crore), BCTT collections was at Rs 269.50 crore (Rs 119.50 crore).

Mr Sinha attributed the buoyancy in direct tax collections to the current growth momentum in the economy, departmental efforts and access to information on high-value transactions in properties, credit cards and mutual funds through the annual information returns (AIR).

He noted that the CBDT had recently issued guidelines for dealing with grievances arising out of cases selected for scrutiny on the basis of information contained in the AIR. "The AIR guidelines are more intended to redress the grievances and mitigate the harassment," Mr Sinha said.