Finance Ministry In Last Ditch Efforts To Boost Tax Collections

The finance ministry has stepped up efforts to boost its tax kitty. In the first 11 months of the current fiscal, it has added 33.95 lakh new assesses, which the ministry claims, has resulted in higher income tax collections.

In a statement issued today, the ministry said more such surveys were being conducted to ensure tax was deducted at source and deducted correctly. The surveys conducted in Mumbai and Delhi had thrown up cases of defaults in the deduction of tax involving substantial revenue, it said.

The finance ministry has also taken steps to ensure the speedy disposal of appeals before the commissioners of income tax (appeals), with several of them having already been disposed. This has resulted in the collection of arrears or the reduction of arrear demands. The revenue department had also taken up a large number of cases for scrutiny, leading to a larger collection out of the current demands, the statement said.

The government has realised Rs 60,449 crore gross direct tax collections during April 2001 to January 2002, marginally up 5.58 per cent, as against Rs 57,252 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. Higher refunds of Rs 13,162 crore during the current fiscal compared to Rs 10,085 crore last fiscal, however, resulted in the net direct tax receipts remaining flat at Rs 47,287 crore as against Rs 47,167 crore during April-January last fiscal.

At the current level, the government has managed to collect only 55.76 per cent of the full year direct tax realisation target of Rs 84,800 crore.

In the next two months, the revenue department will have to collect Rs 37,513 crore if it has to achieve the full year target.