With over 73 per cent of its revenue target collected by February, the Income Tax department is hopeful of achieving a full kitty of direct tax collection of Rs 6.36 lakh crore by the end of this financial year on March 31.

The department, according to official data, has made a gross collection of Rs 5,44,891 crore which, after refunds, comes to a net collection of Rs 4,65,998 crore. The latter figure represents 73.23 per cent of the total budget target of Rs 6,36,318 crore.

“The department is very hopeful of achieving the budget target with the last instalment of advance taxes and contributions made by targeted non-filers coming in by March 31,” a top I-T department official said.

The department is pinning its hopes on potential non-filers as it had recently issued letters to 21.75 lakh such assessees across the country. Through this, the I-T department collected over Rs 1,900 crore in taxes with more than five lakh returns having been filed under the category.

An estimated 1.50 lakh self-assessment tax defaulters were detected during the 2013-14.