Raining revenues: 53% of FY24 I-T target collected till October 9

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It’s raining revenues for the government, so much so that Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Nitin Gupta said on October 10 that they would mop up more taxes than the budgeted Rs 18.23 lakh crore for the current fiscal. The achievement appears all the more remarkable since it comes on the back of a lacklustre performance on the corporate tax front.

Improved technology and compliance have helped the uptick in the revenue stream.

According to data revealed on October 10, the growth in personal income tax collection is a blistering 29.53%. Corporate tax growth is a muted 7.8%, in fact quite slower than the targeted rise of 10.5%.

Some of the additional revenues that have already flowed in include Rs 600 crore from online gaming companies and Rs 105 crore from taxing crypto assets.

While Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government would tax crypto assets at 30% from this fiscal, the gaming companies are being taxed according to a new regime that levied tax on all wins over Rs 100 from April 1 this year.

The CBDT chairman has in fact expressed diffidence on any revival in the collection of corporate tax. He said this stream would grow at a “moderate” pace.

In terms of absolute numbers, the direct tax collected between April 1 and October 9 this year stands at 11.07 lakh crore. Taking into account refunds of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, the net collection between that time window amounts to Rs 9.57 lakh crore. The rise in the net collection stands at a whopping 21.82% compared on a year-on-year basis. The gross collection went up by 17.95% compared to the same period in 2022.

Incidentally, the government’s collection in FY23 was Rs 16.61 lakh crore. This year’s target is 9.75% higher than last year’s collection.

Providing a slew of figures Gupta said that taxpayers filed 1.68 million updated ITRs in this financial year. Moreover, they have coughed up Rs 1,300 crore additional tax after the Income Tax department notified them about discrepancies in the ITRs filed earlier.

“In last six months 16.8 lakh updated returns were filed and additional tax has been paid of around Rs 1,300 crore” Gupta revealed.

The government introduced updated income tax return in the budget for 2022-23. It is a facility that allows taxpayers to come up with rectified returns should they have missed reporting any detail or correct any mismatch in the ITRs and AIS (annual information statement).

“As on October 9, we are growing at around 21.9% and in actual terms the net collection is Rs 9.57 crore…. we will surpass the budget targets,” Gupta said.

The CBDT has already processed refunds in as many as 93.5% of the verified ITRs. Gupta revealed that about 35 lakh refunds are yet to be completed due to mismatch. Other reasons for refunds being held up include validation of the bank accounts of taxpayers.