Income Tax Administrators’ Conference for Eastern Zone gets Underway

Direct tax collection in the country stood at a record of Rs 10.03 lakh crore for 2017-18

GUWAHATI, Aug 17: The direct tax collection in the country stood at a record of Rs 10 lakh 3 thousand crore during the financial year 2017-18. This was stated by Shabri Bhattasali, Member of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), while indicating that Income Tax Department collects more than half of the revenues of the Central government, at the two-day conference of income-tax administrators of Eastern Zone being held from today in Guwahati.

Bhattasali mentioned that the Prime Minister of India has also acknowledged and appreciated in his speech from ramparts of Red Fort on 72nd Independence Day of the fact that the number of people paying direct tax has increased considerably in the last couple of years.

Notably, the Prime Minster said, “Today, the country is moving ahead celebrating the festival of honesty. Till 2013, i.e. for the last 70 years, there were 4 crore people who were paying direct taxes. However, today this figure has increased to above 6 crore. This is an example that nation is treading the path of honesty”.

It is to be mentioned that during the Financial Year 2017-18, a record number of 6.92 crore income tax returns were filed. This was 1.31 crore more than 5.61 crore returns filed in 2016-17. The Income Tax Department added 1.06 crore new return filers during 2017-18. In NER, this number was 1.89 lakh. During the current year, the department plans to add 1.25 crore new filers across the country.

LC Joshi Ranee, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, North Eastern Region speaking on the achievement of the region, said that in NER Rs 7,097 crore tax was collected during the financial year 2017-18 which is 16.7 per cent higher than Rs 6,082 crore collected in the preceding year. He also informed the gathering that the target for tax collection in NER for the current financial year 2018-19 has been fixed at Rs 8,357 crore, 17.75 per cent than last year’s collection.

Ranee reiterated the commitment of the department to meet the target of tax collection, to increase the tax payer base and to deliver superior tax payer services. He said that to achieve these objectives Aaykar Seva Kendras have already been opened at 22 out of 29 stations in NER. New offices are being opened in far-flung areas to deliver tax payer services such as registration and delivery of PAN, TAN and for ease of filing tax returns, he added.

The conference, being hosted by Guwahati after a gap of five years, is being attended by more than 60 senior officers of Income-Tax Department of the eastern zone. The broad objective of the conference is to develop strategies for augmenting revenue, increase the tax base and provide higher standards of tax payers service, apart from dealing with other technical and administrative subjects. The department believes that the conference would help in increasing all round tax awareness in the region.

Before the start of the conference the participants observed a two-minute silence in tribute to former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee.