Direct and Indirect Tax Collection

NEW DELHI : As per the data released by the government on Friday, an increase of 24.8% was recorded in Direct tax collection in the April-June quarter while indirect tax collection was up 30.8% as compared to last year. The government managed to raise almost 20% of the amount budgeted for the entire year in the first quarter of the current financial year. The indirect taxes added up to Rs. 2 lakh crore while total direct tax collection was pegged at Rs. 1.24 lakh crore.

Hence, it will be appropriate to state that Direct and Indirect tax collection went up in Q1. Explained below are the details about the Direct & Indirect tax collected in quarter 1.

Direct Tax

Earlier, the scenario was a little different as the individuals used to pay advance tax only thrice i.e. in September, December and March. However now with a change in the requirements for advance tax payment in the budget last year the receipts in the case of direct taxes observed a spike. From the current year, the number of installments to pay advance tax has risen from 3 to 4 at the rate of 15%, 30%, 30% and 25% in June, September, December, and March of every fiscal.

Corporation tax collection was up 13.5% while that of personal income tax was up 29.8%. However, after adjustment of refunds, the net growth amounted to 4.43% and that of personal income tax was 48.75% as compared to the figures of the previous year. “This increase is mainly due to large refunds made in the previous year as compared to the current year,” said the income tax department in a statement.

Indirect Tax

The reason for the sharp increase witnessed in indirect tax collection is the additional duty levied on petrol and diesel, increase in service tax and customs duty. While central excise collections were up 50% in April-June, service tax was higher by 20.8% and customs by 15.5%.