People are rushing to pay tax in much bigger numbers than before with the tax authorities having turned up the heat on evaders after demonetisation. Advance tax payments for the current financial year by individuals rose more than 40% in the June quarter from the year-earlier period.

Meanwhile, the government estimates the number of payers to cross 60 million for the year ended March, an increase of about 10 million from FY16. Returns filed up to June have already risen by 15% as more people pay self-assessment tax. The deadline for filing income tax returns for FY17 is July 31.

The government expects a bigger bump next year because of the goods and services tax (GST), which came into force on July 1.

“There is improved compliance... It is reflecting in the numbers,” said a senior government official. Simpler tax returns and constant reminders of strict action have persuaded a lot more people to pay tax, many of them perhaps for the first time.

The total number of taxpayers in FY16 was 52.4 million, the government had told the Rajya Sabha.

Advance payment of personal income tax was up 40.26% in the April-June quarter at Rs 8,682 crore against Rs 6,190 crore last year. Self-assessment tax collection saw a jump of 31% in the first quarter.

“This is just demonetisation impact… There would be a further jump with goods and services tax in place,” said a top government official.

Following the announcement of the note swap on November 8 last year, the income tax authorities had launched the Operation Clean Money crackdown against evaders, identifying 1.8 million persons who deposited amounts of cash in old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes that didn’t match their income profiles. The department also sent emails and SMS messages to those whose investments and purchases were not in sync with declared incomes, after obtaining data on such transactions after November 8.

DIRECT TAX COLLECTIONS
Net direct tax collections in the June quarter rose 14.8% from a year ago to Rs 1.42 lakh crore. Direct tax collections up to June were 14.5% of the budget estimate for the full year.

Gross corporate income tax was up 4.8% while personal income tax rose 12.9%. After adjusting for refunds, net corporate tax rose 22.4% in the first three months of FY18 while personal income tax is up 8.5%. Corporate advance tax grew at a tepid 8.1%.

Refunds to taxpayers in the April-June period was Rs 55,520 crore, 5.2% lower than the year earlier.

To be sure, advance tax payments by SBIBSE -0.12 % fell 32% to Rs 682 crore in June. But among private banks, advance tax payments by HDFC BankBSE 0.19 % rose 20% to Rs 1,500 crore.