Govt's FY17 tax collection at Rs 17.10 lakh cr exceeds estimates; PMGKY garners Rs 2,300 cr

The tax collections for 2016-17 include the taxes collected under the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Yojana, which stand at Rs 2,300 crore, according to a report on CNBC-TV18. The government saw Rs 4,600 crore worth declarations under the scheme, said the report. The government had launched the scheme after the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in order to encourage black money holders to deposit the banned notes and come clean. Under the scheme, which opened on 17 December and closed on 31 March, persons with undisclosed income in the form of cash or deposit in an account maintained with a specified entity (which includes banks and post office) could declare such income and pay tax, surcharge and penalty totaling in all to 49.9 percent of such amount. Besides this, the scheme provides that a mandatory deposit of not less than 25 percent of such income shall be made in the zero-interest bearing Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme, 2016, for four years. Meanwhile, PTI reported that the government has exceeded the tax collection estimates for 2016-17 at Rs 17.10 lakh crore. The revised estimates (RE) provided in Budget on 1 February had projected tax collections of Rs 16.97 lakh crore. [caption id=“attachment_3361904” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] The Finance Ministry in a statement said that tax collection of Rs 17.10 lakh crore is a growth of around 18 percent compared to last year. Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said, “Total net tax revenue grows at 18 percent to Rs 17.10 lakh crore, highest in last 6 years.” While direct tax mop up during the April-March period grew 14.2 percent at Rs 8.47 lakh crore, indirect tax kitty swelled by 22 percent over last year to Rs 8.63 lakh crore. Net direct tax collections at Rs 8.47 lakh crore shows 100 percent achievement for RE of 2016-17. Indirect tax collection till March 2017 is 101.35 percent of the RE for 2016-17 fiscal. The RE was pegged at Rs 8.5 lakh crore. In terms of gross revenue collections, the growth rate in corporate tax was 13.1 percent while that of personal income tax was 18.4 percent. However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in corporate tax collections is 6.7 percent while that of personal I-T collections is 21 percent. Refunds amounting to Rs 1.62 lakh crore have been issued during April 2016-March 2017, which is 32.6 percent higher than the refunds issued during FY 2015-16, the statement added. As regard indirect taxes,Central Excise collections grew 33.9 percent to Rs 3.83 lakh crore during 2016-17. Service tax mop up rose 20.2 percent to Rs 2.54 lakh crore, while customs collections grew 7.4 percent to Rs 2.26 lakh crore. With PTI