Indirect, direct tax collection up despite demonetisation says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

Addressing the media on Monday, the Finance Minister said that from April to December, Direct Tax growth rate was 12.01% and Indirect Tax Growth Rate was 25 per cent over last year.

He said that net Direct Tax collections during April-Dec.,2016 stood at Rs. 5.53 lakh crore i.e. 12.01 per cent more than the net collections for April-Dec.2015.

He also pointed out that most states have reported an increase in VAT collection.

According to a release by the Union Ministry of Finance on Monday, the figures for Direct Tax collections up to December, 2016 show that net collections are at Rs. 5.53 lakh crore which is 12.01% more than the net collections for the corresponding period last year. This collection is 65.3% of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for F.Y. 2016-17.

As regards the growth rates for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal Income Tax (PIT), in terms of gross revenue collections, the growth rate under CIT is 10.7% while that under PIT (including STT) is 21.7%. However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 4.4% while that in PIT collections is 24.6%. Refunds amounting to Rs.1,26,371 crore have been issued during April-December, 2016, which is 30.5% higher than the refunds issued during the corresponding period last year.

After accounting for the third instalment of advance tax received in December, 2016, the collections under advance tax stand at Rs.2.82 lakh crore, which is 14.4% higher than the figures for the corresponding period of last year. CIT advance tax is growing at 10.6% while PIT advance tax has registered a growth of 38.2%.

The ministry said in its release that the figures for indirect tax collections (Central Excise, Service Tax and Customs) up to December 2016 show that net revenue collections are at Rs 6.30 lakh crore, which is 25% more than the net collections for the corresponding period last year. Till December 2016, about 81% of the Budget Estimates of indirect taxes for Financial Year 2016-17 has been achieved.

As regards Central Excise, net tax collections stood at Rs. 2.79 lakh crore during April-December, 2016 as compared to Rs.1.95 lakh crore during the corresponding period in the previous Financial Year, thereby registering a growth of 43%.

Net Tax collections on account of Service Tax during April-December, 2016 stood at Rs. 1.83 lakh crore as compared to Rs.1.48 lakh crore during the corresponding period in the previous Financial Year, thereby registering a growth of 23.9%.

Net Tax collections on account of Customs during April-December 2016 stood at Rs. 1.67 lakh crore as compared to Rs. 1.60 lakh crore during the same period in the previous Financial Year, thereby registering a growth of 4.1%.

During December 2016, the net indirect tax (with ARM) grew at the rate of 14.2% compared to corresponding month last year.

The growth rate in net collection for Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax was -6.3%, 31.6% and 12.4% respectively during the month of December, 2016, compared to the corresponding month last year.

The de-growth in customs collections appear to be on account of a decline of gold imports by about 46% (in volume terms) in December 2016 over December 2015, the ministry said.

Image: FinMindIndia Twitter