Direct tax collections in FY24 exceed budget estimate by Rs 1.35 lakh crore

Personal income tax mop-up surge by 25%

New Delhi: The Government of India’s revenue from direct taxes, which include personal income tax and corporate tax, during the financial year ended March 2024 surpassed the budgetary estimate by Rs 1.35 lakh crore, nearly double the amount required for funding the rural employment guarantee scheme under MGNREGA, official data showed on Sunday.

Net direct tax collection during the financial year 2023-24 surged to Rs 19.58 lakh crore, which is 17.7 per cent higher when compared with the previous year’s revenue of Rs 16.64 lakh crore.

In the 2023-24 union budget the target for direct tax collection was fixed at Rs 18.23 lakh crore. The actual collection is 7.4 per cent higher than the budget estimate. In the interim budget presented in February 2024, the direct tax revenue target was revised upward to Rs 19.45 lakh crore. The actual collection exceeds the revised budgetary estimate by Rs 13,000 crore.

The higher collection from direct taxes is enough to meet the overshoot in spending by the government on rural employment guarantee and food subsidy bills. In 2023-24, budgetary allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme stood at Rs 60,000 crore. In the interim budget it was revised upward to Rs 86,000 crore. The food subsidy bill was pegged at Rs 1.97 lakh crore in 2023-24 budget. This was revised upward to Rs 2.12 lakh crore in the interim budget presented in February 2024.

The better-than-expected growth in the direct tax revenue was driven by robust collection from the personal income tax.

Net personal income tax collection, including Securities Transaction Tax (STT), surged to Rs 10.44 lakh crore in 2023-24, a growth of 25.23 per cent over the previous year’s revenue of Rs 8.33 lakh crore, as per data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

Revenue collection from corporate taxes grew at a slower pace. Net collection from corporate taxes increased to Rs 9.11 lakh crore in 2023-24, a growth of 10.26 per cent over the previous year’s data of Rs 8.26 lakh crore.

Interestingly, the revenue collection from personal income tax and corporate tax during the financial year 2022-23 was nearly the same. In 2023-24, the revenue collection from personal income tax, including STT, is Rs 1.33 lakh crore higher than the mop-up from corporate taxes.

The gross collection of direct taxes (before adjusting for refunds) for the FY 2023-24 stood at Rs 23.37 lakh crore, showing a growth of 18.48 per cent over the previous year’s data of Rs 19.72 lakh crore. Refunds of Rs 3.79 lakh crore were issued during the financial year 2023-24.

Gross collection from personal income tax, including STT, stood at Rs 12.01 lakh crore in 2023-24, which is 24.26 per cent higher when compared with the previous year’s data of Rs 9.67 lakh crore.

Gross corporate tax collection increased by 13.06 per cent to Rs 11.32 lakh crore in 2023-24 from Rs 10 lakh crore recorded in 2022-23.