The Income Tax Department may miss the revenue collection target for this fiscal going by the numbers for the first two quarters. Out of 18 income tax regions in the country, only five — Delhi, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Odisha and the North-East — have managed to achieve the revenue goals in the two quarters.
According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) mid-year review, Mumbai region was one of the biggest laggards with 3.8 per cent growth in tax collection against a target of 13.3 per cent.
At the beginning of every fiscal, the CBDT sets the targets in the Central Action Plan for the full year. The plan document is the key roadmap for enhancing revenue collection.
Out of 18 tax regions, the Mumbai region, being the commercial capital, contributes the largest share of income tax revenue. For 2018-19, the CBDT has set ₹3.70 lakh crore as the target for Mumbai, while the all-India target is ₹11.50 lakh crore. In percentage terms, out of the total revenue collection, Mumbai is expected to contribute 32.24 per cent.
A senior IT official told BusinessLine that the Chairman of CBDT had undertaken a review of all 18 regions and had communicated in the last week of October his appreciation and displeasure to all the Principal Chief Commissioners of Income Tax. Mid-year performance is a part of Key Result Areas( KRAs) for the Principal Chief Commissioners. Time-bound disposal of scrutiny cases, tax arrears demand, disposal of cases by Chief Income Tax Commissioner (Appeals) are some of the other KRAs.
Top performer
The mid-year review also showed that the Delhi region, which was given a target growth rate of 15.4 per cent, has managed to achieve an actual growth rate of 52.8 per cent. For the current fiscal, the total revenue target for the Delhi region is ₹1.50 lakh crore. For industrially developed region such as Pune, the target was 20.1 per cent while it managed to keep its head above waters by achieving growth of 15.4 per cent. The total revenue target for the Pune region is ₹61,931 crore, the official said.
The official pointed out that for the six months under review the laggards in revenue collection has been regions such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand and Nagpur. The Rajasthan region, which was given a target of 19 per cent, reported a negative growth rate of 0.3 per cent. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh region was given a target of 17.3 per cent but achieved only 5.8 per cent growth. Among the laggards, Nagpur was an anomaly, as it managed a negative growth rate of 39.2 per cent while it was given a target of 21.8 per cent. From Nagpur, the total revenue collection target for the fiscal is ₹5,906 crore.
The time-bound disposal of scrutiny assessment of assessees cases is also a priority for CBDT for the two quarters. At an all India level, 2.14 lakh such cases are pending but only 13 per cent were actually disposed of by IT Commissioners.