Net Taxpayers

Net direct tax collection grew 16.45 per cent year-on-year to over Rs 15.82 lakh crore till December 17 this fiscal, buoyed by higher advance tax mop-up, government data showed. Advance tax collection during the period rose 21 per cent to Rs 7.56 lakh crore. The collection includes corporate tax of over Rs 7.42 lakh crore and non-corporate tax mop-up of Rs 7.97 lakh crore. Securities Transaction Tax (STT) of Rs 40,114 crore was collected between April 1-December 17 of current fiscal year. Refunds worth Rs 3.39 lakh crore were issued during the period, registering a growth of 42.49 per cent year-on-year. Gross direct tax collection, which includes corporate, personal income tax and STT stood at over Rs 19.21 lakh crore, a 20.32 per cent growth over the collection in April 1-December 17, 2023.

GST field officers will now have to seek the approval of their zonal principal chief commissioners to initiate an investigation against any big industrial houses or major MNCs and levy duty on goods/services for the first time. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued guidelines for Central GST (CGST) officers. According to the guidelines, when a taxpayer is simultaneously being investigated by the state GST and DGGI officers on different subject matters, the principal commissioner will "consider the feasibility" of only one of the offices pursuing all the cases with respect to the taxpayer. The guidelines have also set a deadline for tax officers to conclude an investigation within one year of their initiation. CBIC further said that in initiating an investigation with respect to a listed company or PSU or seeking details from them, the CGST officers should issue "official letters instead of summons" to the designated officer of the entity, detailing the .

There was also a significant rise in number of people who declared their income between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore, data from the Finance Ministry showed

The income tax Department has enabled the tax audit utility form on its portal for financial year 2019-20 and 2020-21. Under the I-T Act, taxpayers are required to get their accounts audited if the sales, turnover or gross receipts of business exceed Rs 10 crore, while in case of professionals, the limit was over Rs 50 lakh in 2020-21 (AY 2021-22). The last date for filing the tax audit report for the 2020-21 fiscal is January 15, 2022. For fiscal 2019-20 i.e. AY 2020-21, limit was Rs 5 crore for businesses and Rs 50 lakh for professionals and due date for original tax audit report was January 15, 2021. However, companies can still file the revised tax audit report for that year to rectify errors. Nangia & Co LLP Director, Audit & Assurance, Shalu Kedia said the corporate assessees did not want to wait until due date which is falling in January for tax audit filing for AY 2021-22 can now proceed with their tax audit filings followed by corporate tax returns for Assessment Year

It is Mr Modi's govt that has added to the problem, and it can resolve it, only if it has the stomach to ignore the inevitable howls of protest from a very vocal middle class, writes T N Ninan

Noting that the I-T department is cutting down interface between taxman and assesses, Chandra said