Finance Ministry ramps up efforts to meet direct tax collection targets

The finance ministry has not lost hope of meeting direct tax revenue targets set for 2019-20, despite goods and services tax (GST) collections not meeting projections in December and the Rs 1.45 trillion hit from the reduction of corporation tax rates. 

To meet the target, the department of revenue (DoR) on Friday held a high-level meeting of senior officials of its direct and indirect boards and decided to have weekly updates on the efforts taken up to raise collections. Field officers were asked to make efforts to identify and initiate actions against willful tax evaders or those using fake invoices or e-way Bills. 

Sources said the purpose of the meeting, chaired by revenue secretary A B Pandey, was to make efforts to augment revenue and achieve the GST target of Rs 1.10 trillion for each of the next two month and Rs  1.25 lakh crore in the last month and direct tax collection target of Rs 13.35 trillion for the year.

They said red flag reports generated through the system would have to be taken to their logical conclusions without overreach in a stipulated time frame and regular updates have to be submitted. 

Field formations under principal chief commissioners and chief commissioners and members of both the boards would have to report weekly either at physical meetings or through video conferencing on the efforts being put on the field to curb tax evasion and leakages, action taken on checking fake or huge input tax credit claims, mismatch in returns filed, they said. 

However, officials were asked to ensure that genuine taxpayers are not troubled. 

GST collections exceeded the Rs 1-trillion mark for the second straight month in December, but fell short of the target of Rs 1.1 trillion.