The Vadodara circle of income tax (I-T) department has set a target of earning Rs 3,360 crore for the financial year 2010-11 from the region an amount which is 12 per cent more than last year's revenue. Despite recession, hitting profits and salary packages in 2008, the I-T department didn't suffer any revenue losses. In fact, I-T collections have been increasing at the rate of over 10 per cent.

Last year, the department collected Rs 2,950 crore towards income tax and corporate taxes from Vadodara region. "Our revenue from income and corporate tax has been increasing at good rate. We have a general target of 10 per cent growth, which our region meets every year," said Arun Kumar Jain, I-T chief commissioner.

The I-T department is making special efforts to encourage people to file returns. This year, for the first time, the department officials went to IndianOil Corporation (IOC) to collect I-T return forms from their employees. "Our aim is to reach out to more and more people. Our visit to IOC was successful as 350 employees filed returns. Next year, we will approach more big companies like Reliance and also Railways to set up return filing camps in their premises," Jain told Media.

And, these efforts are bringing results as the number of assesses filling I-T returns have, in fact, increased. Last year, about 70,000 people filed I-T returns from Vadodara region and the number has increased to 76,700 returns this year. The number of citizens from Vadodara region earning salary above Rs 10 lakh too has gone up, thanks to big salary packages offered by engineering and chemical industries.

Last year, the department got 1,450 I-T returns of employees earning over Rs 10 lakh, while this year the number is expected to cross 1,800. Interestingly, the highest salary recorded by an individual from this region in assessment year 2009-10 was Rs 1.69 crore.

"There are several big companies in Vadodara region that are paying huge salaries to their managing directors and other top management men," Jain said. Of the total target of tax collections, about Rs 2,080 crore will come from corporate tax, while Rs 1,270 will be collected from income tax. Chemical industries will shell out about Rs 500 crore of corporate taxes off the total collection, officials said.