New Delhi, Jul 24 (IANS): Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey on Wednesday said the revised direct tax target of Rs 13.35 lakh crore is realistic and achievable with the help of economic growth and exchange of data amongst various agencies and wings of the government.
"In the interim Budget it (Direct tax target) was Rs 13.80 lakh crore. Now we are saying Rs 13.35 lakh crore. It is a realistic statement. We are collecting data from various places, we feel that there will be an efficiency gain as tax collecion depends on two things --growth and efficency," Pandey said on the sidelines of a finance ministry event to mark the Income Tax Day.
"We have grown at 14 per cent last year. This year we are having the data exchange GST, customs and various other authorities, info from banks, filing of returns, all these will give us efficiency gains including data in capital market, GST, banks, customs , e-filing of returns, export and import", Pandey said.
He said there is a scope for bringing more people into the tax net. The CBDT will embark on faceless assessment for tax payers and required procedures are being put into palce for this.
He said the direct tax target for the current fiscal was realitic and achievable where data mining and inter-agency data sharing to help achieve target.
Earlier Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the same event said the direct tax target was very realistic and achievable.
"Direct tax collection target is not a big deal. We have to keep watch only on those who are gaming the system", she said.
The government has re-calibrated and fixed the direct taxes collection target for this financial year at Rs 13.35 lakh crore.
In the last revised estimates, the target (for 2019-20 financial year) was fixed as Rs 13.78 lakh crore which appeared to be unrealistic because it was showing an increase of almost 24 per cent year-on-year.
The CBDT made this submission while budget deliberations were going on. Consequently, it (collection target for direct taxes) has now been fixed at Rs 13.35 lakh crore and this translates to about 17.5 per cent increase year-on-year.