Direct Tax Collections Which Were Revised Upwards - Nov 08, 2008

Centre''s direct tax collections, which were revised upwards mid-way for this fiscal, rose by just 10.66% at Rs 19,708 crore in the month of October, mainly on account of last date for filing of corporate tax returns this year. The collections stood at Rs 17,809 crore in the corresponding fiscal last year. However, according to tax official sources the collection for October 2008 are not comparable with the previous year, since corporates paid shortfall in their tax liability in the month of September after the last date of filing. returns was advanced to September 30 this year from October 31.

Furthermore, according to sources, at the time of filing of returns corporates usually pay shortfall between their actual liability and taxes paid earlier. During the period of April-October, the direct tax collections surged by nearly 29.52% at Rs 1,66,905 crore. It was at Rs 1,28,864 crore in the same period a year ago, according to a Finance Ministry release. Corporate tax collections were grew by 33.49% at Rs 1,05,174 crore, while personal income tax rose by nearly 23.14% at Rs 61,433 crore during the period. Earlier this year, direct tax revenues targets were revised to Rs 3,95,000 crore from Rs 3,65,000 crore for this fiscal. The revised figures were over 25% higher than the direct tax collections of about Rs 3,14,000 crore last fiscal.