Direct tax mop-up jumps 35.5% to Rs 6.48 trillion in FY23: Govt

The provisional gross direct tax collections for FY23 till September 8 stood at Rs 6.48 trillion, which is 35.5 per cent higher than the same period last year, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

“Direct tax collections, net of refunds, stand at Rs 5.29 trillion, which is 30.2 per cent higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year, the ministry said, adding that this was 37.2 per cent of the net direct tax Budget Estimate for FY23.

The ministry said refunds amounting to Rs 1.19 trillion have been issued till September 8 this fiscal year, 65.3 per cent higher than the refunds issued for the same period in FY22.

Net corporate tax and personal income tax collections, after adjusting for refunds, grew 32.7 per cent and 28.3 per cent refunds, respectively, the statement said.

Weeks earlier, Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Nitin Gupta had told Business Standard that gross direct tax collection as on August 30 stood at Rs 4.8 trillion, 33 per cent more than the Rs 3.6 trillion collected in the same period last year.

Gupta said if the trend continued, the direct tax collection for FY23 could exceed the Budget target of Rs 14.20 trillion. Of the target, Rs 7.2 trillion is expected from corporate tax and Rs 7 trillion from taxes on various incomes, including personal income tax and securities transaction tax.

The Centre is counting primarily on healthy direct and indirect tax collection this year to maintain its FY23 fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of GDP at a time when its subsidy and welfare spending commitments have increased due to inflationary pressures and supply-chain disruptions caused by the war in Europe.

Goods and services tax collections in August remained above Rs 1.4 trillion for the sixth month in a row.

"As the economy continues to recover from the Covid downturn, the efforts at nudging tax-payers to better compliance through a combination of technology intervention and data reporting are paying off, and tax collections continue on their upward trajectory," said Rohinton Sidhwa, Partner, Deloitte India.