NEW DELHI: The Centre’s direct tax collections for 2020-21 came in at Rs 9.45 lakh crore, higher than the revised estimates of Rs 9.05 lakh crore disclosed during the recently announced Union Budget for FY 2020-21. However, while better than expected, direct tax revenue still remains 10 per cent lower than that recorded during 2019-20, reflecting the impact that the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns had on the government’s tax revenue.
According to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman PC Mody, out of the total provisional net direct tax collections, around Rs 4.57 lakh crore was from the corporate tax kitty, Rs 4.71 lakh crore from income tax, and around Rs 17,000 crore from Securities Transaction Tax.
These collection numbers are after accounting for the Rs 2.61 lakh crore refunds given to taxpayers for the year, the Union finance ministry said on Friday. Refunds worth Rs 1.83 lakh crore were issued in fiscal year 2019-20. “... mark(s) an increase of approximately 42 per cent over the preceding financial year,” Mody pointed out. He, however, added that these were provisional figures and that they would be updated pending the final collation of data on collections.
In the Budget announcement this year, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had slashed the estimated net direct tax collection to Rs 9.05 lakh crore, down from the Rs 13.19 lakh crore announced before the Covid outbreak. “Despite an extremely challenging year, the Advance Tax collections for F.Y. 2020-21 stand at Rs 4.95 lakh crore which shows a growth of approximately 6.7 per cent over the Advance Tax collections of the immediately preceding financial year,” the ministry said in its statement.
For the new fiscal year 2021-22, the Centre has budgeted direct tax collections of Rs 11.08 lakh crore. Despite the second wave the pandemic leading to a resurgence of localised, state-specific lockdowns, the revenue department is confident that they will be able to achieve this target. “We know that times are difficult. We are helping taxpayers through initiatives like faceless assessment and faceless appeal. We are confident that we will be able to meet the current targets,” Mody said.