| Amidst the cacophony of economic sombreness comes some encouraging news. Figures of advance tax collections by the office of chief
commissioner of income-tax (CCIT) show a 5% increase from the amount collected by January 25 last year.
By Tuesday, CCIT Chandigarh had recorded advance tax receipts of Rs 7,422.70 crore, a considerable growth from Rs 6,999.0 crore recorded on January 25, 2008. The total collections of 2007-08 were Rs 9559.90 crore. Treading cautiously, the I-T department is hopeful of maintaining its pace so far as the turnover for current year is concerned.
Though the exact contributions made by asseesses of Chandigarh and neighbouring areas could not be ascertained, it is learned that 13,847 new assesses have been added to the list this year. With this, the total number of assessees in Chandigarh, Mohali and periphery has gone up to 5,03,535 from 4,89,687 in March 2008.
Besides industrialists and traders, government officials and executives working in information technology firms and multinational companies dominate the list of assessees.
Though the revenue receipts have increased by 5%, these are less than what we expected.
As the filing is on, we hope to maintain this pace. But one things for sure, the economy could be going through a slowdown, but certainly not a meltdown as apprehended by many, PK Chopra, chief commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT), north west region, Chandigarh said. Lets wait till the end of this financial year so that things become clearer, he added.
Other regions that registered an increase in number of tax payers include Panchkula region, where 46,407 new names have been added, Amritsar, with 14,710 new payers and Ludhiana region, where a total of 17,276 new assesses were added till Tuesday for the current financial year.
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