The government’s direct tax collections, net of refunds, came in at Rs 10.60 trillion up to November 9 in the current fiscal year, a release issued by the finance ministry said on Friday. The collections during the period were 21.8% higher year-on-year and constitute 58.2% of the Budget estimates for Direct taxes in FY24.
A growth rate of 21.8% is sharply higher than 11.6% growth rate pegged in the Budget. The Budget has estimated total direct tax collections, which includes
Corporate Income Tax and Personal Income Tax, at Rs 18.23 trillion.
Refunds amounting to Rs. 1.77 trillion have been issued from April 1 – November 9 in FY23, the ministry said.
The net growth in (CIT) collections was at 12.5% during the period and that in (PIT) collections was at 31.8%.
Before refunds, the gross direct tax collections stood at Rs. 12.37 trillion, 17.59% higher than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year.
Rohinton Sidhwa, Partner, Deloitte India said that while PIT collections are registering a 30% plus growth, CIT collections still need to pick up. “A clearer picture should emerge once the filing season concludes at the end of November. The general expectation is that the recent Supreme Court wins the department has had will also add to tax collections for the current year.”
In October the SC had ruled that no “automatic” international treaty benefit, including a lower withholding tax, is available to foreign companies operating in India, which experts said may lead to a spate of tax demands. Most of these tax notices could also have the nature of the opening up closed tax records of companies for past years, and the retrospective tax outgo implications for many firms could be considerable.