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Tax Collection: The government has released the figures of direct tax collection and said that even after giving tax exemption, the collection has increased by 8 percent. The Income Tax Department has said that the total direct tax collection since April 1 has been more than Rs 17 lakh crore.
New Delhi. In the last budget, the government had increased the income tax exemption to Rs 12 lakh, after which there were speculations that now the government’s treasury and earnings will decrease. But, if we look at the figures released on Friday, it clearly shows that giving tax exemption had no effect. The Income Tax Department has released the tax collection figures from April this year till now, which clearly shows that there has been an increase of 8 percent in tax collection. These figures are from direct taxes, which are collected directly on the earnings of people and companies.
According to the Income Tax Department, the net direct tax collection in the country between April 1 and December 17 increased by 8 percent to more than Rs 17.04 lakh crore. Net direct tax collections have increased due to slowing of ‘refunds’ and higher advance tax of companies. These figures show that net corporate tax collection increased by 10.54 percent to more than Rs 8.17 lakh crore. At the same time, non-corporate tax (which includes taxes paid by individuals, HUFs and companies) stood at Rs 8.47 lakh crore with a growth of 6.37 per cent.
A lot of tax was collected on securities also
In the current financial year 2025-26, till December 17, the net revenue received from Securities Transaction Tax (STT) stood at Rs 40,195 crore with a slight increase on annual basis. Advance tax of companies increased by 8 percent to more than Rs 6.07 lakh crore. There was a decline of 6.49 percent in advance tax collection under non-corporate head and it stood at more than Rs 1.81 lakh crore. Overall till December 17, advance tax increased by 4.27 percent and stood at more than Rs 7.88 lakh crore.
Huge decline in refunds
While on one hand the government treasury is being filled through tax collection, on the other hand there is a slowness in issuing refunds. There was a decline of 14 percent in the issuance of ‘refunds’ on an annual basis and this amount was more than Rs 2.97 lakh crore. According to Income Tax Department data, before adjusting for ‘refunds’, gross direct tax collections recorded a growth of 4.16 per cent and stood at more than Rs 20.01 lakh crore.
Estimated tax collection till March
In the current financial year 2025-26, the government has estimated direct tax collection at Rs 25.20 lakh crore, which is 12.7 percent more than the previous year. The government aims to collect Rs 78,000 crore from STT in financial year 2025-26. Rohinton Sidhwa, partner, Deloitte India, said that the increase in advance tax of companies indicates their good earnings. However, non-company advance tax collections have declined, possibly due to the cut in rates given to individuals in the last budget. Sidhwa said the decline in issuance of ‘refunds’ is due to more intensive investigation of fraudulent ‘refund’ claims. He said that withholding ‘refunds’ also increases litigation, the burden of which is unbearable for the tax department.
