Direct tax collections up 11.38% in Apr-Jan FY’15

Direct tax collections increased by 11.38 per cent to Rs 5.78 lakh crore during the April—January period of current financial year.

The government had collected Rs 5.19 lakh crore in direct taxes during the April—January period of last fiscal, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

As per the Budget 2014—15, the revenue from direct tax is targeted at Rs 7.36 lakh crore for current fiscal, a growth rate of 16 per cent over previous fiscal.

During the ten—month period, corporate tax collections grew by 11.04 per cent at Rs 3.64 lakh crore as against Rs 3.28 lakh crore during the same period last fiscal.

The personal income tax collections were up by 11.32 per cent at Rs 2.07 lakh crore (Rs 1.86 lakh crore).

The Securities Transaction Tax (STT) collections surged by 44.12 per cent at Rs 5,556 crore in the said period due to buoyancy in the stock market.

The net direct tax collection rose at a lower pace of 6.21 per cent to about Rs 4.74 lakh crore, as against Rs 4.46 lakh crore in the same period last year, primarily on account of higher refunds.

Advance tax collections have shown a higher growth rate of 13.26 per cent during April—January period of 2014—15 as against growth of 8.71 per cent.

Growth in Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) is 7.79 per cent as against 16.65 per cent in the same period last year.

The Self—Assessment Tax showed a growth of 22.22 per cent as against 10.94 per cent.

The growth in Regular Tax is 17.25 per cent as against 24.14 per cent.

In the current fiscal, the government aims to collect over Rs 13.6 lakh crore as tax revenue, which requires 16 per cent growth in direct taxes and 20 per cent growth in indirect taxes to meet the target.