Aug tax collections decline 7.7%; personal income tax mop-up drops 37%

Direct taxes fall 42% to Rs 34,972 crore, from Rs 60,363 crore in August last year

Tax collections fell 7.7% per cent at Rs 1.5 trillion in August this year from Rs 1.6 trillion in the same month last year as all major taxes tumbled.

Corporation tax yielded Rs 11,159 crore, which is almost half of Rs 22,201 crore in August last year, according to data provided by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

Personal income tax declined 37.6 per cent at Rs 23,813 crore in August this year from Rs 38,162 crore in the same month last year.

This means that direct taxes fell 42 per cent to Rs 34,972 crore in August this year from Rs 60,363 crore in the same month last year.

Government sources attributed this to "huge increase" in refunds.  While they did not give monthly figures, they said refunds amounting to Rs.1.19 trillion have been issued during April one to September eight, 2022, which are 65.29 per cent higher than those  issued during the same period in the preceding year.

Similarly, Central GST yielded lower revenue by 2.6 per cent at Rs 51,911 crore compared to Rs 53,326 crore, revealed the data.

Excise and customs duties were anyway showing reduced numbers in most months this year against the same months last year due to cut in customs and excise duties in a number of products, including petrol and diesel.

In August, excise duty collections were down 27.9 per cent at Rs 28,816 crore this year compared to Rs 36,849 crore in the corresponding month of FY'22.

Customs duty delivered Rs 14,315 crore which was 21.6 per cent less than Rs 18,261 crore over this period.

August is the latest month for which the CGA has given figures. However, figures for September GST collections and advance tax collections for direct taxes for the quarter ended September 15 have also come from other channels.

Tax revenues are expected to be robust in the current financial year. The Budget projected just 1.8 per cent growth in tax collections at Rs 27.6 trillion in FY23 over the actual collections of Rs 27.1 trillion in FY22.

Overall tax collections rose 18.73 per cent at Rs 10.2 trillion in the first eight months of the current financial year against Rs 8.6 trillion in the corresponding months of the previous year, despite the August dip.