Issued income tax refunds to the tune of Rs 61,920 crore till July, Govt says

Direct tax collections up to July 2017 rose 19.1%, at Rs 1.90 lakh crore. 

Surabhi Ahluwalia, Commissioner of Income Tax, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), in a statement on Wednesday said, "So far as the growth rate for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal
Income Tax (PIT) in terms of gross revenue collections is concerned, the growth rate for CIT is 7.2% while that for PIT (including STT) is 17.5%."

However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 23.2% while that in PIT collections is 15.7%.

"Refunds amounting to Rs. 61,920 crore have been issued during April, 2017 to July, 2017 which are 5.1% lower than the refunds issued during the corresponding period of Financial Year 2016-17, she said. 

On August 7, 2017, the goverment had said that income tax returns filed in 2016-17 rose 25%. CBDT had said, "As a result of demonetisation and Operation Clean Money, there is a substantial increase in the number of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed. The number of Returns filed as on 05.08.2017 stands at 2,82,92,955 as against 2,26,97,843 filed during the corresponding period of F.Y. 2016-2017, registering an increase of 24.7% compared to growth rate of 9.9% in the previous year."

"Advance Tax collections of Personal Income Tax (i.e. other than Corporate Tax) as on 05.08.2017 showed a growth of about 41.79% over the corresponding period in F.Y. 2016-2017. Personal Income Tax under Self Assessment Tax (SAT) grew at 34.25% over the corresponding period in F.Y. 2016-2017," it had said.