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Though a large part of the current financial year was crippled by the savage second wave of Covid-19, direct tax collection maintained high rates of positive growth. The income tax collection figures for the first four months of this year grew at a healthy clip. Experts feel if this trend continues the collection this year would surpass that of last year. The Income Tax Department’s provisional data shows that in the first four months the rate of revenue collection has jumped the highest – by almost 193% compared to the collection of the same period last year.

Out of 19 CCITs (chief commissioner of income tax), eight CCITs have witnessed more than 100% jump in income tax collection. Even CCIT Guwahati and Bangalore that occupied the last two slots recorded rise of 9% and 52% year-on-year rise.

Kolkata is at the top

The all-India collection of income tax in the April-July period stood at Rs 3.06 lakh crore. The collection in this period in FY21 was Rs 1.55 lakh crore.

Out of Rs 3.06 lakh crore, corporate tax was Rs 1.45 lakh crore and personal income tax stood at Rs 1.53 lakh crore.

The collection of Kolkata CCIT stood at Rs 10,456 crore compared to Rs 3,564 crore in April-July 2020, up by a huge 192.5%. This is the highest rate of increase in the country.

The second and third places belonged to Ahmedabad and Pune CCIT. Ahmedabad has witnessed a jump of just above 125%, whereas Pune has recorded a rise of 123.5%.

In FY22, Ahmedabad CCIT already collected Rs 14,425 crore against Rs 6,404 crore and Pune CCIT has collected Rs 17,992 crore as against a figure of Rs 8,054 crore.

Mumbai ahead in gross amount

If we consider gross tax collection, Mumbai is in the first position. It has collected just above Rs 1 lakh crore. The figure was only Rs 48,200 crore last year. It works out to a year-on-year hike of 108%.

No other circuit has been able to touch the figure of Rs 1 lakh crore. Mumbai CCIT has collected corporate tax worth Rs 51,000 crore and income tax worth Rs 42,000 crore.

Guwahati and Bengaluru

Going by the rate of increase in collection, Guwahati CCIT stood at the bottom with only 9.5% rise in the said period. In FY22 they have collected Rs 1,135 crore against Rs 1,037 crore in FY21.

For Bengaluru, the collection figure is Rs 40,000 crore as against Rs 26,200 crore in FY21. The rise was about 52%.

Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai

Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai CCIT recorded growth of 98%, 118.5% and 95.6%, respectively. Out of 19 CCITs across the country, 14 CCITs collected more income tax than corporate tax.

Reason

Income tax officials are not willing to comment. The trend is positive and we hope than this year we would end up collecting far more revenue than last year, said an official from Kolkata CCIT.

“Though some advance tax collection is included in it, the figures are fairly good. The national collection is almost 98% which basically means collection has doubled. It is a good indicator for the economy. New tax portal, awareness of the taxpayer and declining corruption combine to produce this outcome. If we keep up this pace, total collection would reach a record high in current fiscal year,” said Arvind Agarwal, a tax expert.