New Delhi: Direct tax collection has grown by 18% to cross Rs10.02 trillion in the fiscal ended on 31 March 2018, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.
He said demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) implementation has resulted into higher formalisation of economy which is evident from additional one crore IT returns being filed in the previous fiscal.
“Direct tax collections for FY2017-18 has been Rs 10,02,607 crore (18 per cent higher than previous year). The data reveals the efficiency of tax department and rise in no. of honest tax payers. This historical revenue receipt is a factual testimony of accountable governance under PM @narendramodi ji,” Jaitley tweeted.
He said the number of income tax returns filed rose to 6.84 crore during 2017-18, compared to 5.43 crore filed in 2016-17. This represents a 26% growth in filing of ITRs. Of the total ITRs filed, 6.74 crore returns were e-filed.
Between 30 and 31 March, the last day of fiscal 2017-18, 56 lakh ITRs were filed. The government had estimated to collect Rs9.80 trillion from direct taxes, which include income tax and corporate tax, in 2017-18.
In the revised estimates, the government raised the target to an ambitious Rs10.05 trillion. Finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia had on Monday said that the tax collections would cross the “landmark” Rs10 trillion in 2017-18 fiscal.