The directive was given to “maximise direct tax collection” and monitor advance tax collection figures of financial year 2022-23 (FY23).
In a letter issued on Thursday, the deadline for filing the third instalment of advance tax, the CBDT asked principal commissioners of each region to submit a report on the third instalment and overall advance tax collection in the current financial year. The CBDT also asked officials to compile the names of the top 15 taxpayers.
“For monitoring of advance tax collections, the following information may be submitted to CBDT: the advance tax collection of your region for the third instalment of FY23, up to the third instalment, and comparison with the last two FYs. The total advance tax received in the last two FYs may be included for comparison in the given format,” the letter said, without specifying a reason for this exercise.
According to tax officials, such a directive had not been issued since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Centre’s revenue position looks good, and the fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for FY23 looks achievable, even after factoring in an additional spending of Rs 4.36-trillion, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday.
The latest figures suggest the net direct tax collection rose 24 per cent to Rs 8.77 trillion in the April-November period of the current fiscal year. This accounts for 61.79 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) of direct tax collection for the whole of FY23.
The Budget estimated direct tax collection at Rs 14.20 trillion in FY23, higher than Rs 14.10 trillion collected last fiscal.
 "tax, CBDT")