The Centre's net direct tax collections declined 47.93 per cent in the first two months of the current fiscal to Rs 12,954 crore (Rs 24,878 crore). This decline is being attributed to the significant jump in tax refunds during the current fiscal. Tax refunds so far this fiscal stood at Rs 37,451 crore, registering a 216.74 per cent increase over Rs 11,824 crore last year. More than 40 lakh refunds have been issued in the current fiscal, an official release said.
Last fiscal, a record 85 lakh refunds had been issued by the Income-Tax Department even while it met the revised estimates target of Rs 4.46 lakh crore. For the current fiscal, the direct tax collection target has been fixed at Rs 5.32 lakh crore. Meanwhile, the gross direct tax collections in April-May 2011 grew 37.34 per cent to Rs 50,405 crore (Rs 36,702 crore).