Direct tax collections up 10% in Dec

The government’s direct tax collections, net of refunds, rose 10.11 per cent to Rs97,591 crore in December, against Rs88,623 crore in the year-ago period. In November, year-on-year growth stood at 7.91 per cent, according to official data released on Friday.

The growth in direct tax collections in December, however, isn’t enough to meet the Budget target. In the April-December period, direct tax collections rose 13.7 per cent to Rs3.68 lakh crore, against the growth target of 19.43 per cent for 2012-13 stated in Budget 2012-13.

TDS exempted on certain payments
The revenue department has exempted tax deduction at source (TDS) on certain payments, such as bank guarantee commission and charges for warehousing services for commodities, to reduce compliance burden on businesses.