Direct Tax Collections of Rs. 8.3 Lakh Crores by 2014-15 - FM

By Vijay Kumar

INCOME Tax Department has been at the forefront of collecting revenue for the Government since the Financial Year 2007-08. During 2010-11, the Income Tax Department exceeded the revised Budget Estimates by collecting more than Rs.4.46 lakh crores. Collection of Direct Taxes has almost doubled in the last four years from Financial Year 2006-07 to Financial Year 2010-11. This has been possible due to rationalization of tax structure, improvement in tax administration, better tax payers' services and commendable efforts put in by the officers and employees of the Income Tax Department.

This was stated by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee while addressing the Third Meeting of Central Direct Taxes Advisory Committee(CDTAC) in Delhi yesterday.

The FM added;

A major step towards improving tax payer services was taken by the Department by setting-up of Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) at Bangalore in the year 2010. This CPC has been stabilized and is processing 1.0 lakh returns daily, he added. Shri Mukherjee said that this project is a strong efficiency multiplier and is being replicated at Manesar, Pune andKolkata. The Finance Minister Shri Mukherjee said that he is sure that operationalisation of these CPCs would give a fillip to the processing capacity and help in processing the returns of income expeditiously.

Tax Deduction at Source is a major component of Tax collected. Government is in the process of setting-up a Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) for TDS matters at Ghaziabad, which will help in improving the TDS administration.

The Union Finance Minister said that the Government has adopted a Five-pronged strategy to tackle the highly sensitive issue of Black Money. This strategy comprises of –

++ Joining the Global crusade against black money;

++ Creating an appropriate legislative framework;

++ Setting up institutions for dealing with illicit money;

++ Developing system for implementation; and

++ Imparting skills to the manpower for effective action.