Pune I-T Dept aims at Rs 75k cr in FY19-20

PUNE: The Income Tax (I-T) Department of Pune region is set to collect direct taxes of Rs 75,000 crore for the financial year 2019-20. The department collected Rs 57,500 crore in the previous year 2018-19, said Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax of Pune Region Anuradha Bhatia. 

She was speaking during the inaugural speech of the 159th Income Tax Day on Wednesday, organised by the department. During the event, Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) MK Dubay, Bariatric Surgeon Dr Jayshree Todkar, Diabetologist Dr Pramod Tripathi and Life Coach Narendra Goidani were also present.

“Pune is fast-changing and now the city has become an IT hub. It is also growing in the auto industry, engineering and real estate. Five years ago, we collected Rs 29,000 crore as direct taxes and this year we collected Rs 57,500 crore. We have also seen growth in the number of taxpayers. In 2014-15 we had only 31 lakh taxpayers and in 2018-19 we now have 76 lakh taxpayers. We are very hopeful that we will cross 1 crore taxpayers in the financial year 2019-20,” said Bhatia.

“Five years ago, the citizens had grievances regarding the refund-related issues and at that time, we had refunded Rs 2,500 crore. We have solved grievances and this year (2018-19) we refunded Rs 7,000 crore,” Bhatia added.

The Principal CCIT said the Income Tax Department conducted 80 outreach programmes. At present, there are 23 Aykar Seva Kendras working in Pune for citizens to help them with filing Income Tax returns and other tax-related work. 

On the occasion of the Income Tax Day, events such as quiz, drawing, essay competitions, indoor sports competition, etc were organised. At various stations within Pune region, tree plantation and blood donation camps were organised to mark the 159th Income Tax Day.