Direct tax collection in April 2007 has shot up by over 128%, mainly due to faster clearing of refunds by the income tax department during 2006-07. Direct tax collection in April 2007 stood at Rs 5,441 crore, compared with Rs 2,381 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

The I-T department issued refunds amounting to over Rs 39,000 crore in the last fiscal, an increase of nearly Rs 10,000 crore over 2005-06.
 
Explaining the rise in collection figures, a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) official said, Last fiscal, we were able to process refunds faster and most of them were encashed by taxpayers by March. So there was no deficit in tax collections in April this year. In 2005-06, the refund process may have been slower and a large number of cheques may have been encashed in the next year, leading to a drop in collection in April 2006, he added.

Corporate income tax has been the top most gainer and has grown nearly 213% to Rs 1,602 crore. It had shown a deficit of Rs 1,418 crore in April last year.

Personal income tax collections rose to Rs 3,839 crore in April, a marginal increase of 1.24% over the same period last fiscal.

According to sources, refund claims during April this year have remained low, another reason for the rise in tax revenue. In the first two weeks of April, the department issued refunds amounting to Rs 1,834 crore.

Direct tax collection trends continue to remain buoyant in May as well. Till Thursday, the department had collected Rs 14,791 crore as corporate and personal income tax. This is an increase of over 50% over last fiscal, when till May about Rs 7,000 crore poured in.