Direct tax collection jumps 18% to Rs 43,391 cr in Apr-May

Net direct tax collections jumped by 18 per cent to Rs 43,391 crore during the first two months of the current fiscal, the government said today.
"The net direct tax collection for the first two months of the current year is Rs 43,391 crore, which indicates a growth rate of 18 per cent," Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said in a series of tweets.
The indirect tax growth rate for April-May FY17 is 36.7 per cents with ARM and 14 per cent without ARM.
"However in case of direct taxes, the trend can only be visible after June when advance tax installment falls due," Adhia added.

Direct tax collection, which includes corporation tax, income tax and wealth tax, is estimated to rise 12.64 per cent to Rs 8,47,097 crore this year from Rs 7,52,021 crore in 2015-16.
The official said cash deposits of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5

lakh per account, totalling to Rs 42,000 crore, are found to have common PAN, mobile number or address. The same would be looked into in detail by the Income-Tax Department.
The government has got analysed the deposits in Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts in detail and amounts of cash deposited under different threshold in different regions of the country and shared it with I-T department.

"All cash deposits of more than one lakh rupees in cash under PMJDY accounts would also be looked into, based on the intelligence inputs," he said.
It has come to the notice of the government that more than Rs 25,000 crore have been deposited in cash in re-activated dormant bank accounts and the details have also been shared with the Income Tax department.
Similarly, nearly Rs 80,000 crore of repayment of loans in cash above a certain threshold post demonetisation has also been shared with law enforcement agencies.
"The Income Tax department has undertaken numerous actions, both intrusive and non-intrusive, based on the intelligence and in turn referred a number of cases for parallel investigation by the ED and CBI. The actions have unearthed non-filers, huge amounts of unaccounted income and shell companies," the official said without giving details.

The Income Tax department is also undertaking data analysis and comprehensive matching of the huge intelligence inputs with government databases to have a more effective and focused intrusive and non-intrusive actions in the coming days.
"It is already taking actions in cases where cash deposits above Rs 50,000 have been made without quoting of PAN," he said.
"The Income Tax Department is using tools and its sources to identify each of these persons and is confident that there would a big expansion in the tax base and a quantum jump in direct tax collection," the official added.