The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday revealed that the net direct tax collection up to September 2017 is Rs. 3.86 lakh crore. The amount is 15.8% higher than the net collection for a corresponding period of last year. The CBDT informed that the net direct tax collections represent 39.4% of total budget estimates of Rs. 9.8 lakh crore for the direct taxes for the financial year 2017-18.

It has been reported that the gross collections (before adjusting the refunds) have increased by 10.3% to Rs. 4.66 lakh crore during April to September, 2017 while the refunds amounting to Rs.79,660 crore have been issued during April to September, 2017. An amount of Rs.1.77 lakh crore have been received as advance tax up to September 30, 2017, which reflects the growth of 11.5% over Advance Tax payments during the same period in 2016. The CBDT further informed that the growth in Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Advance Tax is 8.1% and that in Personal Income Tax (PIT) Advance Tax is 30.1%.

In the last month, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said it has signed two more advance pricing agreements (APAs) in September with Indian taxpayers as it looks to reduce litigation by providing certainty in transfer pricing. The two APAs signed during September 2017 pertain to automobile and healthcare consulting sectors. According to a report by PTI, the CBDT said, “With the signing of these two agreements, the total number of APAs entered into by CBDT till date has reached 177. This includes 164 unilateral APAs and 13 bilateral APAs. “In the current financial year, a total of 25 APAs (2 bilateral and 23 unilateral) have been signed till date”.

With revenue collection from the TDS category witnessing a sluggish pace, the CBDT in September issued stern directive to all the field offices and asked the I-T department to take urgent steps to shore up funds. In his letter, which was accessed by PTI, CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra has expressed his “disappointment” over the growth rate under the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) collections, saying some regions in the country were showing negative or single digit figures.