Pro-biz Modi Govt may miss FY16 direct tax target by Rs 40,000 crore

Government is likely to face a shortfall of Rs 30,000-40,000 crore in direct tax collection this fiscal as the mop-up in first eight months has been just 46.26 per cent of the budgeted target.

During April-November, direct taxes which include income tax and corporate tax, grew 12.63 per cent to Rs 3.69 lakh crore. This is 46.26 per cent of the budgeted target of Rs 7.97 lakh crore, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia told reporters here.

He said the direct tax collection could fall short of budget target by Rs 30,000-40,000 crore, a shade lower than the revenue department's Rs 50,000 crore estimate made in October.

"We are optimistic... Advance tax numbers are expected in December... There could be a marginal shortfall in direct taxes to the tune of Rs 30,000-40,000 crore," Adhia said. However, the indirect tax collection between April- November have been robust with a growth of 34.3 per cent to Rs 4.38 lakh crore.

"I am hopeful that we will not only meet the indirect tax collection target, but also exceed it and make good the shortfall in direct taxes as well," Adhia said.

Meanwhile, advance tax collection from top 45 corporates in the city has gone up both at quarterly level as well as in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, according to Income-Tax officials.

Advance tax mop-up from top 45 corporates for the December quarter rose to Rs 24,279 crore from Rs 21,681 crore in the same period a year ago, showing a growth of 12 per cent, they said. Similarly, collection by the Mumbai region, which nets one-third of the total tax for the government, during the first nine months of the fiscal shot up to Rs 61,327 crore from Rs 55,827 crore a year ago, up 10 per cent.

“Advance tax collections have been really good. We expect to meet the target, projected for the fiscal. There is no significant increase in our surveys,” Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and head of the Mumbai region, D S Saksena said.

“The reason is surveys are dependent on intelligence- based reports, which couldn’t happen this time at the required level”, he said, adding however, “we are hopeful of increasing the number surveys during the remaining part of the year.”