You can breathe easy this fiscalat least as far as the taxman is concerned. Satisfied with the revenue collections so far, the tax authorities are unlikely to focus on income surveys, audits or raids for the remainder of the year.

A finance ministry official said Given the robust tax collections in the first quarter, especially direct taxes, we dont think it will be necessary to use any of these measures. We are confident of reaching our full-year target of Rs 2,67,491 crore. Voluntary compliance by taxpayers has been quite good and the department is confident this trend will continue, he said.
 
A buoyant economy has ensured a strong growth in corporate tax collections, the official pointed out. They grew 21.85% in the first quarter to Rs 32,607 crore. Personal income-tax collections, on the other hand, jumped 36.5% to Rs 17,511 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Gross direct tax collections (including fringe benefit tax, securities transaction tax and banking cash transaction tax) during April-June 2007 grew 27.6% to Rs 52,485 crore. Net direct tax collections (after refunds) showed a massive 54.4% jump to Rs 44,139 crore during April-June, compared with the corresponding period the previous year.

The government will, however, keep a tab on collections through the year and decide if it needed to resort to any additional measures, the officials said.

Satisfied with the good collection, taxmen are unlikely to conduct income surveys, audits and raids
Corporate tax mop-up grew 21.85% to Rs 32,607 cr in Q1; personal income-tax grew 36.5% to Rs 17,511 cr
But such measures may be reverted to in the latter half of the fiscal, if tax collections fall short of estimates
 
The need for stringent measures in the backdrop of good taxpayer compliance was likely to be one of the main issues to be discussed at the annual national conference of income-tax chief commissioners to be held in Delhi on July 17-18.

The conference will also discuss the response to the new income-tax return forms introduced earlier during the year. The chief commissioners are expected to deliberate on procedural issues related to issues such as filing and processing the return forms. The recently launched tax return preparer scheme will also be evaluated at the meeting.