The income tax department is expected to surpass its direct tax collections by around 40-45% by the end of the 2006-07, exceeding the targeted growth of about 28% set by Budgetary estimates. The department had already recorded a 40% increase in the direct tax collections during the first three quarters of the fiscal, informed a senior income tax official.

Across the country, the income tax department by January-end had recorded corporate tax collections of Rs 97,787 crore, income tax collections of Rs 54,185 crore, securities transaction tax (STT) collections of Rs 3,812 crore and Rs 404 crore from the banking cash transaction tax (BCTT). Tax collections have risen by almost 38-40% during the first nine months of the current fiscal, informed a tax official. The collections during the first three-quarters is about 60% of the total revenue collected by the department as almost 40% of the revenue is generated by the department in the last quarter, he added.

Another senior tax official said that advance tax collection trends from Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi have been very buoyant during the last month of the fiscal. The increased figures reflect the economys robustness and high corporate earning, he added.