Direct tax collections for 2017-18 increased 17.1% over previous year: CBDT

The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections for Financial Year 2017-18 witnessed a 17.1 per cent increase compared to net collections for FY 2016-17, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Monday.

"2017-18 direct tax collection recorded at Rs 9.95 lakh crore, up by 17.1 percent year-on-year. Nearly 6.84 crore tax returns were filed compared to 5.43 crore, thus registering a 26 per cent year-on-year hike," CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra said here at a press conference.

However, he reiterated that the aforesaid figures are provisional and subject to change pending final collation of data of collections.

Gross collections (before adjusting for refunds) in FY 2017-18 increased by 13 per cent to Rs11.44 lakh crore, while refunds amounting to Rs1.49 lakh crore were issued during 2017-18.

Finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Monday announced that GST collections till March have amountedat Rs 90,000.

The GST collections will further rise as e-way bill has now been rolled out, he said. “GST collection for February collected in March stand at Rs 89, 264 crore which shows an upswing in revenue collection trends. Rs 17, 616 crore in GST refunds given have been given out so far,” he said. 

Talking about the e-way bill that was relaunched on April 1, Hasmukh Adhia said that it was a successful rollout and there were no glitches reported. He also said that e-way bill will help the government in cracking down on tax evaders.

259,000 e-way bills have been generated on first day of rollout and 289,000 e-way bills have been generated 

A total of 17,616 crore as refund has been given out so far, Adhia added. He also informed that the government has received refund applications of Rs 25,000 crore till date and IGST refunds of Rs 9,604 have been given so far.