GUWAHATI: Assam has seen an almost consistent increase in income tax collection over the past five years, as per the data provided by the income tax (IT) department of the northeast region.
The collection of direct taxes which includes both the corporate tax and the personal income tax has seen a quantum jump from 2013-14 to the last financial year, that is 2017-18.
Further, people paid a total of Rs 3,982.79 crores as tax in the state in 2015-16, which further increased to Rs 4,709.99 crores in 2016-17. Finally, the total tax collected in 2017-18 again rose to Rs 5,366.42 crores.
Elaborating on the possible reasons behind increase in the amount of tax collected, a senior official in the income tax department told G Plus, “Economic growth and increase in the state’s GDP is one of the major causes for the increase in the tax collection. Also, inflation is another factor which further pushes the tax growth.”
He further added that the efficiency of the tax administration is another reason for the boost in tax collections over the years.
In the same vein, the tax collected for the entire northeast region, too, saw a continual growth over the past three years.
Further, for the northeast region, the total tax collected increased by 36.48 per cent over the past three years. During the financial year 2015-16, the income tax department collected a total tax of Rs 5,200 crores; this increased to Rs 6,093 crores in 2016-17 which further increased to Rs 7,097 crores.
On the other hand, the overall tax collection in 2017-18, as compared to the previous financial year (2016-17), increased by 16.5 per cent in the northeast. While the all India growth percentage for the financial year 2017-18 remained slightly above at 18.3 per cent.
Principal chief commissioner of income tax, NER, Kavita Jha, told G Plus that this year’s tax collection target from the northeast region (NER) has been set at Rs 9,065 crores.
Further, authorities informed that the department had collected a total of Rs 7,676.1 crores from the northeast region as on March 28. Out of this, Rs 4,163.80 crores was collected as corporate tax while Rs 3,512.30 crores was personal income tax.
The IT department officials also mentioned that a lot of deductors - including both governments as well as private - are still to deposit taxes. As per the government directive, taxpayers are required to deposit taxes by March 31.
“Taxpayers should also pay any advance tax due by March 30 as March 31 is a Sunday and April 1 will be a bank closure day,” informed an official.
On the other hand, the neighbouring northeastern state, Meghalaya, collected Rs 533.30 crores as tax in financial year 2013-14. However, this too increased to Rs 849.51 crores in 2017-18.
Further, in Tripura Rs 218.70 crores was collected as direct tax in 2013-14 and this rose to Rs 296.41 crores in 2017-18.
Additionally, the number of income tax return filers has crossed 1 million in the northeast during the current financial year.
“The department had collected a total of Rs 7,676.10 crores from the northeast region as on March 28. Out of this, Rs 4,163.80 crores was collected as corporate tax while Rs 3,512.30 crores was personal income tax.”
Special court for tax prosecution
A special court under the Kamrup (Metro) District Judiciary was notified as Special Court for prosecution of offences under the Income Tax Act, 1961 last year.
The court of Munsiff No 3 of the Judicial Magistrate 1st class has been notified by the Gauhati High Court. District Munsif Court is a court of the lowest order handling issues pertaining to civil matters in the district.
The special court in Guwahati was the first such special court in the entire country to be set up for prosecuting tax offenders, said income tax authorities.
Further, more than 50 tax prosecution cases were filed in the special court with respect to tax related offences from the northeast region, informed officials from the IT department.
Some of the reasons for conducting tax prosecutions include non-filing of tax returns, filing false returns, failure to pay taxes, failure to deduct taxes and failure to deposit tax deducted.
Further, non-filing of tax returns can lead to penalty and also prosecution under law for tax offenders. In cases of prosecution, the burden of proof lies on the defaulter, informed authorities.
“The special court in Guwahati was the first such special court in the entire country to be set up for prosecuting tax offenders, said income tax authorities.”
Total direct tax collected from Assam over the past 5 years
|
Year |
Total tax collected (in Rs crores) |
|
2013-14 |
4486.8 |
|
2014-15 |
3658.69 |
|
2015-16 |
3982.79 |
|
2016-17 |
4709.99 |
|
2017-18 |
5366.42 |