Direct tax collections up 17.5% in April-August at Rs2,24,000 cr

The government has collected an estimated Rs2,24,000 crore by way of direct taxes in the first five months of the current fiscal (April-August 2017-18), recording a 17.5 per cent year-on-year growth, even as overall tax collections in the country continued to grow steadily.

Direct tax collections, net of refunds, stands at Rs2,24,000 crore as of end-August 2017, which is 17.5 per cent higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of the previous year. This accounts for 22.9 per cent of the total budget estimates of direct tax collections for the financial year 2017-18.

Overall corporate income tax (CIT) collections grew 5.0 per cent while personal income tax (PIT) collections (including STT) grew at a faster pace of 16.0 per cent.

However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is higher at 18.1 per cent while that in PIT collections is 16.5 per cent.

Refunds amounting to Rs74,089 crore have been issued during April 2017 to August 2017 which are 7.2 per cent lower than the refunds issued during the corresponding period of financial year 2016-17.

In the April-August period last fiscal (2016-17), direct tax collection had grown 15.03 per cent to Rs1,89,000 crore.

The government expects to collect Rs9,80,000 crore by way of direct taxes in the current fiscal.