MUMBAI: Direct collection rose 13 per cent during April-December period to Rs 546,661 crore compared with Rs 484,661 crore in the same period a year earlier.
The growth rate of direct tax collections, however, is still short of annual target of 16 per cent. The budget had set a direct tax target collection of Rs 7.36 lakh crore during the current fiscal.
Gross collection of corporate tax too showed an increase of about 12.79 per cent to Rs 350,494 crores compared with Rs 310,754 crore during the same period a year earlier.
Advance tax collection rose 13.15 per cent during the April-December period, compared with 8.76 per cent in the year earlier period. Tax deduction at source (TDS) rose 7.84 per cent compared with 16.73 per cent.
Gross collection of personal income tax rose by 12.62 per cent to Rs 190,391 crore as against Rs 169,059 crore in the same period a year earlier. Securities Transaction Tax (STT) grew 43.44 per cent to Rs 4,940 crore. Net direct tax collections rose 7.41 per cent to Rs 448,401 crore from Rs 417,477 crore.
Any pick up in the GDP growth to higher than 5.5 per cent for the full year could help the tax authorities improve their tax collection.