NEW DELHI: Pinning hopes on the Vivad se Vishwas scheme, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has set a high direct tax target of Rs 13.19 lakh crore for the current fiscal, despite lockdown reducing corporate and personal earnings.
In a circular issued to various tax regions, the department has given the target for the current financial year, which is 28 per cent more than the actual collections in the year ended March 31, 2020.
"The Budget target for each cadre controlling Pr. CCIT has been fixed keeping in view the revenue potential of the region, which is based on the weighted average growth rate of net collections of last three years, giving highest weight to the immediately preceding year," the circular said.
The department has set the target for Mumbai at Rs 4.07 lakh crore with Rs 2.31 lakh crore as corporate taxes and Rs 1.62 lakh crore as personal income-tax.
For Delhi, the target has been set at Rs 1.89 lakh crore with Rs 1.12 lakh crore from corporate taxes and Rs 76,957 crore from personal income-tax.However, going by last year’s collection, this target seems too ambitious.
Direct tax collections for financia year 2019-20 stood at Rs 10.27 lakh crore, missing even the revised tax estimate of Rs 11.7 lakh crore by Rs 1.42 lakh crore, and even fell 8 per cent short of the Rs 11.17 lakh crore collected during financial year 2018-19.
Mumbai, which accounts for 32 per cent overall tax collections, managed to collect Rs 3.2 lakh crore in financial year 2019-20 against a 11.8 per cent decline from the previous year’s collection of Rs 3.63 lakh crore. The Delhi circle also managed to collect Rs 1.46 lakh crore in financial year 2019-20, 9 per cent down than that in financial year 2018-19.
In this context, officials too acknowledge that this is higher. “Yes, it has not taken into account the lockdown impact. But till the time there is no final report on the impact of economy, we will go as per the original target. We will revise it when the final report comes. Till that time, there is no point speculating,” said a senior CBDT official.
The official added that the target will not be difficult, given the Vivad se Vishwas scheme, which is likely to be extended beyond June 30.