Tax collections to exceed budget estimates, says Revenue Secretary

Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj on Monday said he expects both direct and indirect tax collections to exceed budget estimates.

“I can say without any doubt at this stage that yes, definitely in both direct as well as indirect taxes, we will exceed the budget estimates. In direct taxes, we may exceed by a big margin as compared to indirect taxes because in indirect taxes, we also reduce the excise duty,” Bajaj told BusinessLine. For FY23, Budget sets the target of ₹14.2 lakh crore and ₹13.37 lakh crore from direct and indirect tax, respectively.

On Sunday, the Finance Ministry said that gross collection of direct taxes for FY23, as on September 17, rose by 30 per cent to over ₹8.36 lakh crore from over ₹6.42 lakh crore. During the same period, the net collections (gross minus refund) was over ₹ 7 lakh crore as against ₹5.68 lakh crore, representing an increase of 23 per cent.

“The difference between gross and net is also because of very high refunds. I feel, refunds will normalise in next six months and net would move closer to the gross. So, if we grow even by 27-28 or 30 per cent in the current year, we would almost double our direct tax revenue in two years, which is big achievement,” he said.

Talking about the GST, Bajaj repeated his expectation of ₹1.5 lakh crore or more from November (collection in October). “Firstly, festive season should contribute to GST collection. Secondly, economy is bouncing back. We have also done away with IDS and other reforms which have positive impact on collection. And thirdly, we are gradually and quietly working on our compliance management and people have also now have realised that better comply rather dodge the tax administration,” he said.

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Direct tax kitty grows 30% in FY23 to ₹8.36 lakh crore

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