India achieves direct tax-to-GDP ratio of 5.98% in FY18; best in last 10 years

03 Jan 2019 Evaluate

The Finance Ministry has stated that India achieved the direct tax-to-GDP ratio of 5.98% in fiscal year 2017-18 (FY18) and it is the best in the last 10 years. Besides, in the previous years that is in 2016-17 and 2015-16 it was 5.57% and 5.47% respectively. The ministry said the larger purpose of demonetisation was to move India from a tax non-compliant society to a compliant society and the impact of note ban has been felt on collection of personal income tax.

The Ministry in its 2018 review said there is a constant growth in direct tax-GDP ratio over last three years and the ratio of 5.98% in FY18 is the best DT-GDP ratio in last 10 years. It further said there is a growth of over 80% in the number of returns filed in the last four financial years from 3.79 crore in 2013-14 to 6.85 crore in 2017-18. It added that the number of individuals filing return of income has also increased by about 65% during this period from 3.31 crore in 2013-14 to 5.44 crore in 2017-18.It also said there has been a continuous increase in the amount of income declared in the returns filed by all categories of taxpayers over the last three assessment years (AYs).

For AY 2014-15, corresponding to FY 2013-14 (base year), the return filers had declared gross total income of Rs 26.92 lakh crore, which has increased by 67% to Rs 44.88 lakh crore for AY 2017-18, showing higher level of compliance resulting from various legislative and administrative measures taken by the government, including effective enforcement measures against tax evasion. Refunds amounting to Rs 1.23 lakh crore have been issued during the April-November 2018 period, which is 20.8% higher than refunds issued during the corresponding period in the preceding year. Growth rate for corporate income tax (CIT) and personal income tax (PIT) stood at 17.7% and 18.3%, respectively.

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