Direct tax collection rises 14.4%

Net direct tax collections up to November, at 4.8 lakh crore, were 14.4% higher than they were in the same period of the previous nancial year, according to ocial data released by the government on Saturday. “The provisional gures of direct tax collections up to November 2017 show that net collections are at 4.8 lakh crore which is 14.4% higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year,” the government said in a release. “The net direct tax collections represent 49% of the total Budget Estimates of direct taxes for nancial year 2017­18 (9.8 lakh crore).”  In other words, the government has earned less than half of its full year target in the rst eight months of the nancial year. This is, however, in line with the trend seen in the previous nancial year, where the same period saw 48.7% of the budgeted amount being collected. “Gross collections (before adjusting for refunds) have increased by 10.7% to 5.82 lakh crore during April­November 2017,” the release said. “Refunds amounting to 1.02 lakh crore have been issued during April 2017 to November 2017.”