Direct Taxes

The figures for Direct Tax collections up to December, 2016 show that net collections are at Rs. 5.53 lakh crore which is 12.01% more than the net collections for the corresponding period last year. This collection is 65.3% of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for F.Y. 2016-17.

As regards the growth rates for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal Income Tax (PIT), in terms of gross revenue collections, the growth rate under CIT is 10.7% while that under PIT (including STT) is 21.7%. However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 4.4% while that in PIT collections is 24.6%. Refunds amounting to Rs.1,26,371 crore have been issued during April-December, 2016, which is 30.5% higher than the refunds issued during the corresponding period last year.

After accounting for the third instalment of advance tax received in December, 2016, the collections under advance tax stand at Rs.2.82 lakh crore, which is 14.4% higher than the figures for the corresponding period of last year. CIT advance tax is growing at 10.6% while PIT advance tax has registered a growth of 38.2%.

Indirect Taxes

The figures for indirect tax collections (Central Excise, Service Tax and Customs) up to December 2016 show that net revenue collections are at Rs 6.30 lakh crore, which is 25% more than the net collections for the corresponding period last year. Till December 2016, about 81% of the Budget Estimates of indirect taxes for Financial Year 2016-17 has been achieved.

As regards Central Excise, net tax collections stood at Rs. 2.79 lakh crore during April-December, 2016 as compared to Rs.1.95 lakh crore during the corresponding period in the previous Financial Year, thereby registering a growth of 43%.

Net Tax collections on account of Service Tax during April-December, 2016 stood at Rs. 1.83 lakh crore as compared to Rs.1.48 lakh crore during the corresponding period in the previous Financial Year, thereby registering a growth of 23.9%.

Net Tax collections on account of Customs during April-December 2016 stood at Rs. 1.67 lakh crore as compared to Rs. 1.60 lakh crore during the same period in the previous Financial Year, thereby registering a growth of 4.1%.

During December 2016, the net indirect tax (with ARM) grew at the rate of 14.2% compared to corresponding month last year. The growth rate in net collection for Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax was -6.3%, 31.6% and 12.4% respectively during the month of December, 2016, compared to the corresponding month last year. The de-growth in customs collections appear to be on account of a decline of gold imports by about 46% (in volume terms) in December 2016 over December 2015.

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Ministry of Finance

The Union Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram said that the goods and services tax (GST) is a more effective and efficient substitute for plethora of indirect taxes. The Finance Minister said that he is hopeful that the GST Bill would be passed before the end of the current financial year. The Finance Minister was addressing the Third Meeting of the Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Finance, here today. The subject matter of the discussion was “GST-the Way Forward’. The Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram further said that though there are still some issues relating to GST and its Network (GSTN) to be resolved, yet they are not insurmountable. The Finance Minister said that the objective is to put in place an effective and efficient tax system which is friendly and fair to the taxpayers. He said that once GST is implemented, it will not be adversarial to the taxpayers.

Earlier, a presentation was made on the GST Network system by the officials of Central Board of Excise and Customs.

As part of the mandate, the Empowered Group (EG) on IT Infrastructure for GST recommended the IT strategy for GST and the appropriate structure and roadmap for creation of an SPV to be called the Goods and Services Tax Network to deliver the required IT services for GST implementation. The key objectives of GSTN SPV would be to provide standard and uniform interface to the tax payers, share infrastructure and services to Central/State Governments. The common and shared infrastructure for GST would also be leveraged for providing benefits to Centre/States, even prior to roll-out of GST. The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) and the Union Finance Minister endorsed the recommendations of EG on the IT strategy for GST, the structure and role of GSTN SPV, as also the selection of NSDL as technology partner for incubating SPV.

The Members of the Consultative Committee participating in the discussion gave various suggestions relating to GST and its Network. They were of the view that GST is good for all stakeholders including Central and State Governments as well as traders and business communities among others. They raise various issues relating to GST Network including security of data, settlement of disputes among different stakeholders, integration of direct tax information system into the GST system and other technology related matters. Some of the members stated that firstly the issue of loss to the States be settled to the satisfaction of all States before we march forward. This is causing delay on the part of the States in accepting GST and this uncertainty may be settled once for all. Some of the members suggested that decision making process of the GST Council be made more practicable by providing decisions with two-third majority of the States rather than on consensus basis. Similarly, issues relating to dispute settlement mechanism and exclusion of certain products from the GST system among others were also raised during the discussion.

Members of Parliament who attended the today’s Consultative Committee Meeting include Shri S.P.Y. Reddy, Shri Suresh C. Angadi, Shri Narahari Mahato, Shri W. Bhaushaeb Rajaram and Smt. Rajkumari Ratna Singh (all from Lok Sabha), Shri N.K. Singh, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Shri Rajkumar Dhoot, Shri Birender Singh, Shri Shantaram Naik, Dr. Ashok Sekhar Ganguli and Ishwar Lal Jain (all from Rajya Sabha). Shri S.S. Palanimanickam, Minister of State for Revenue, Shri Namo Narain Meena, Minister of State for Financial Services and Expenditure, Shri R.S. Gujral, Finance Secretary, Shri Sumit Bose, Revenue Secretary, Shri Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, DEA, Shri M.H. Khan, Secretary, Disinvestment, Smt. Parveen Mahajan, Chairman, CBEC and Smt. Poonam Saxena, Chairman, CBDT were also present among others in the aforesaid meeting.

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DSM/RS/GN
(Release ID :86731)

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