Direct tax mop up rises 14.1% to Rs 8.74 lakh cr during Apr-Dec 2018; net collections increase by 13.6% to Rs 7.43 lakh cr

New Delhi: Direct tax mop up grew 14.1 percent to Rs 8.74 lakh crore during April-December 2018, finance ministry said on Monday. Refunds amounting to Rs 1.30 lakh crore have been issued during April to December, 2018, which is 17 percent higher than refunds issued during the same period in the preceding year. As much as Rs 3.64 lakh crore has been collected as advance tax, which is 14.5 percent higher than the advance tax collections during the same period last year. [caption id=“attachment_4495585” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] “The provisional figures of direct tax collections up to December, 2018 show that gross collections are at Rs 8.74 lakh crore which is 14.1 percent higher than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year,” a finance ministry statement said. Net collections (after adjusting for refunds) have increased by 13.6 percent to Rs 7.43 lakh crore during April-December, 2018. The net direct tax collections represent 64.7 percent of the total budget estimates of direct taxes for financial year 2018-19 (Rs 11.50 lakh crore). The gross collections for corporate tax is 14.8 per cent while that for personal income tax is 17.2 percent. After adjustment of refunds, the net growth in corporate tax collections is 16 per cent and that in personal income tax collections is 14.8 percent. “It is pertinent to mention that collections of the corresponding period of fiscal 2017-18 also included extraordinary collections under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), 2016 amounting to Rs 10,844 crore (third and last instalment of IDS), which do not form part of the current year’s collections,” the ministry said. The growth rate of corporate advance tax is 12.5 percent and that of personal advance tax is 23.8 percent during April-December.