The Mumbai region of Income Tax Department which has been assigned a direct tax collection target of Rs 1,50,480 crore for the current financial year, has already collected Rs 34,000 crore, which is over a third of the all-India collection.

The target for the region is 35 per cent of the all-India collection target of Rs 4,30,000 crore. "The target for Mumbai region was enhanced by 18 per cent over last year. Mumbai region has achieved almost 23 per cent of the target assigned to it. In gross terms, however, collection of Mumbai region is around 29 per cent of the target," it said.

While advance tax, whose share in the total collection is almost 50 per cent, has grown at 22 per cent during the year, collection from TDS has fallen by 2 per cent during this year due to the twin factors of downward rationalization of TDS rates, and upward revision of threshold limit.

"Also, in keeping with the departmental policy of issuing refunds on priority, almost 45 per cent higher refunds have been issued during this year. As against Rs 6,667 crore refund issued till this time last year, Rs 9,683 crore has been issued this year. This, in turn, has adversely impacted the net collection of Mumbai region. The trend, however, will be clear once the next instalment of advance tax is paid by September 15," it said in a statement.

"While GDP estimates have now been pegged at a higher figure, and should therefore result in higher rate of growth of direct taxes, it is expected that even if the present rate of growth of taxes under various heads is maintained, Mumbai region will still meet the budget collection target for this year," it said.

The proposal to construct an office building for the Income Tax Department at Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, is at an advanced stage of financial approval. "The office project having a built-up area of 38,000 sq.mtrs is estimated to cost Rs.516 crore.

The centrally air-conditioned, state of the art office will have ground plus 10 floors, with modern fire-fighting equipment, environment-friendly features, easy access for persons with special needs and a parking space for 580 cars. The complex is expected to be ready for occupation by April 2014. The new office complex is much bigger than the iconic Aayakar Bhavan, and is expected to consolidate 6 scattered offices of the department into a single office, thereby obviating the needs of taxpayers to visit different offices," it said.