Rs 31,462.62 cr collected in taxes till Feb of this fiscal: Delhi FM Gahlot

The Delhi government collected Rs 31,462.62 crore in taxes till February of this financial year, including Rs 26,096.79 crore from GST, according to an official statement.

Ahead of presenting the Budget for Delhi, Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot on Friday convened a meeting with senior officials of the Department of Trade and Taxes.

He reviewed the budget preparations and discussed measures to promote trade in Delhi and analysed the efforts being made to augment revenue from tax collection in the city.

In a statement, he said, "The Trade and Taxes department plays an important role in the government. The revenue collections in GST and VAT combined was more than Rs 27,000 crores in 2021-22. This year, we expect remarkable growth in the collection."

Gahlot rued that in addition to tax detault, evasion is a big problem for any state.

"Under Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the government wants to have a transparent system and is continuously working on identifying defaulters. Regular meetings with the market and trade associations are happening through outreach camps to reduce such problems," he said.

Till February 2023, a total of Rs 31,462.62 crores in taxes were collected, including Rs 26,096.79 crore from GST and Rs 5,365.83 crore from VAT. Tax collected from petroleum products in 2022-2023 was Rs 4,169.18 crore whereas in 2021-2022, it was Rs 3739.41 crores.

In order to augment revenue from taxes, the Delhi government identifies and takes regular action against tax defaulters, according to an official statement.

The government also does mandatory field verification of suspicious taxpayers and initiates necessary action as per the DGST Act, 2017, it said.

"Meetings with market and trade associations through outreach camps are organized regularly to sensitise them about the latest notifications, circulars, amended provisions of DGST, the benefits of tax-paying and the repercussions of tax evasion. Their grievances are also addressed during these outreach camps," the statement said.

Delhi is the third state in the country to implement the Document Identification Number (DIN) in the indirect tax administration. The department informed the minister that they are collating all data of pending recovery cases since 2005. They are also sending SMSes to the taxpayers as a reminder to deposit the tax.

At the zonal level, the department is regularly monitoring the disposal of recovery cases. It is also in the process of developing Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for effective action on defaulters.

Once implemented, it will prevent revenue leakages and hence augment revenue collection. It will also increase return-filing compliance and ensure action on the tax defaulters. The primary objective of KPI is to provide various data on one platform to enhance tax-collection efficiency.