Direct tax collections rise to Rs 3.7 lakh crore till Sept 18

Mumbai: The Finance Ministry on Friday released data on total direct tax collections in country. According to finance minister Arun Jaitley, who tweeted the figures, direct tax collections have gone up by 15.7 per cent to Rs 3.7 lakh crore. These numbers are upto September 18, the ministry said.

"Direct Tax Revenue Collections upto 18th Sept, 2017 in current FY 2017-18 rose to Rs 3.7 lakh crore with a growth of 15.7 per cent," Jaitley said. The jump in tax collections comes at a time when the government has indicated it wants to widen the tax base substantially and bring more number of taxpayers' under the purview of tax net.

"Government is committed to widen the tax base by encouraging and incentivising the new tax payers," he said in a tweet. CBDT had said in July direct tax collection had gone up 19 per cent to Rs 1.90 lakh crore. However, the min-month numbers pegged the jump at 21 per cent.

According to Jaitley, Income Tax Department has taken various initiatives to bring about efficiency, transparency, and fairness in Tax Administration. He also said number of tax payers increased significantly from 4.72 crore in FY 2012-13 to 6.26 crore during 2016-17 fiscal.