Over Rs 15 trillion in direct tax mop-up comes in 'automatically'

Proportion of TDS, advance taxes in total collections inching closer to 80%

A smaller proportion of direct tax collections involves the income-tax (I-T) department running behind taxpayers than was the case a decade ago.

Around 78.4 per cent of total gross direct tax receipts come in through tax deducted at source (TDS) and in the form of advance taxes in 2022-23 (FY23). It was 76.4 per cent in 2013-14. The total value of taxes collected through these routes is Rs 15.5 trillion, the highest in data going back to 2000-01. It was Rs 10.2 trillion in 2018-19 before the pandemic.

There have been fluctuations in individual years, but the share of these routes has