Direct tax collections surge 18% to Rs 10.02 lakh cr in FY18: Arun Jaitley

Direct tax collection has grown by 18 per cent to cross Rs 10.02 lakh crore in the fiscal ended on March 31, 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. He said demonetisation and 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 per cent growth in filing of ITRs. Of the total ITRs filed, 6.74 crore returns were e-filed. Between March 30 and 31, the last day of fiscal 2017-18, 56 lakh ITRs were filed.

The government had estimated to collect Rs 9.80 lakh crore 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 Rs 10.05 lakh crore. Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia had yesterday said that the tax collections would cross the "landmark" Rs 10 lakh crore in 2017-18 fiscal.