Direct tax collections up 3.69 per cent in fiscal first half

Net direct tax collections during the first six months of the current fiscal (April-September 2009-10) stood at Rs1,52,625 crore, up 3.69 per cent from Rs1,47,197 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Corporate tax collection grew 5.55 per cent to Rs1,00,572 crore compared with Rs95,283 crore collected in the same period last fiscal, while personal income tax (including STT, residual FBT and BCTT) grew 0.38 per cent to Rs51,897 crore against Rs51,700 crore in April-September 2008-09, a government release said today.

The lower growth in net tax collection was mainly on account of higher tax refund outgo of 51.1 per cent, at Rs28,281 crore as against Rs18,717 crore last fiscal, the release noted.

Net tax collection during September 2009 continued to be positive at Rs64,737 crore compared with Rs62,788 crore during September 2008. The growth in securities transaction tax (STT) also remained positive at Rs3,207 crore (up 0.79 per cent) during April-September 2009 crore against Rs3,182 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

After receipt of the installments up to the second quarter (September), advance tax collections recorded a net growth of 2.15 per cent against a negative growth of 6.17 per cent in the first quarter (April-June) in the present fiscal compared to last year.

During the second quarter, the net growth in advance tax was 6.21 per cent. Particularly, corporate advance tax recorded a growth of 12.24 per cent during the second quarter, against a negative growth of 3.44 per cent in the first quarter.