After the last Budget's announcement of a major tax relief for those earning an annual salary of less than Rs 12 lakh, there is not much that individuals can look forward to in the forthcoming Budget, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The government's indirect tax collection is expected to increase by 8.3 pc in the financial year 2025-26 (FY26), according to a report by ICICI Bank. The report also noted that this growth is higher than the 7.1 per cent increase seen in FY25 and is mainly driven by rise in GST revenue from strong urban consumption. It said "The increase is driven by higher goods and services tax collections which in-turn is explained by boost to urban consumption".
The government's Budget announcements providing tax holiday for data centres, setting up of city economic regions (CERs) and funding to improve infrastructure in Tier-II and -III cities may give an indirect boost to India's realty sector, said industry executives.
'Tax cases are technical in nature... Many high courts do not have a tax bench, which also contributes to the delay.'
The move, he said, would enable the Authority for Advance Rulings set up under the Income Tax Act 1961 to also function as the Authority for Advance Rulings for Indirect Taxes. The AAR was established to address the taxability issues of NRI assessees. The assessees can put in an application to the authority and seek judgement on their tax issues.
All the three components of indirect tax excise, customs and service tax have posted negative growth in collections.
The government expects indirect tax collection to be lower than the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 13.38 trillion this fiscal year, despite prospects of netting goods and services tax (GST) in large amounts, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said. "Indirect tax collection may see lower realisation than budgeted on account of cuts in excise and customs duties. "We could see a shortfall of about Rs 1.5 trillion on account of those," he told Business Standard.
Around 24 paise will come from borrowings and other liabilities, 10 paise from non-tax revenue like disinvestment, and 2 paise from non-debt capital receipts, the Budget documents showed.
'Repeated adjournments are one of the largest contributors to lengthy litigation cycles.'
Indirect tax revenues rose marginally by 5.6 per cent in the April-October period to over Rs 2.85 lakh crore, mainly on account of increase in service tax and customs collections.
He, however, acknowledged the need for further efforts from the revenue department.
After increasing the direct tax collections target in 2010-11 by Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion), the finance ministry now plans to raise the indirect tax receipts by at least Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 3,25,000 crore (Rs 100 to Rs 3,250 billion) for the same period.
The food delivery platform sector in India employed 1.37 million workers in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) and is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3 per cent, estimates a new report released by the Delhi-based think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
The net indirect tax collection in 2020-21 grew 12.3 per cent annually to Rs 10.71 lakh crore, thereby exceeding the target set in revised estimates, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. The mop-up through indirect taxes, which include GST, Customs and excise duties, was Rs 9.54 lakh crore in 2019-20. In the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2020-21, the target was set at Rs 9.89 lakh crore. Net collections from Goods and Services Tax (GST) stood at Rs 5.48 lakh crore during 2020-21, an eight per cent drop compared to Rs 5.99 lakh crore in the previous fiscal year.
Total pending Customs arrears, including amounts under litigation, court stays and cases where the appeal period has not expired, stood at about Rs 1.36 trillion at the end of December 2024.
The indirect tax collection grew by about seven per cent to Rs 51,461 crore (Rs 514.61 billion) in the first five months of this fiscal from Rs 48,095 crore (Rs 480.95 billion) in April-August 2002.
The world economic downturn, a slowing economy and stimulus packages by way tax cuts have all brought the government's indirect tax collections in the first four months of this fiscal down by 28 per cent as compared to last year's revenue during the same period.
Indirect tax collection, which includes excise, customs, and services tax, was Rs 2.57 lakh crore.
Base revisions are technical exercises, but history shows they can significantly reshape the narrative around India's growth performance.
Government has set indirect tax collection target of Rs 5.65 lakh crore for 2013-14
The government on Tuesday said there would be no slippage in indirect tax collection on account of drought nor is it considering any tax cuts.
The budgeted indirect tax collection target is Rs 9.26 trillion, and the Centre has collected around Rs 5 trillion in the first 8 months. So it needs another Rs 4.2 trn in the last four months
The government has fixed the target of indirect tax collection, comprising customs, excise and service tax, at Rs 5.65 lakh crore for 2013-14.
Ahead of Union Budget, the government on Thursday said it hopes to exceed the indirect tax collection estimate of Rs 3.36 lakh crore for this fiscal in view of the buoyancy in the economy.
The indirect tax collection rose by 42.3 per cent to Rs 2.07 lakh crore (Rs 2.07 trillion) during April-November this year as compared to corresponding period last year, indicating uptick in economic activities.
Amid speculations of partial roll back of stimulus in the upcoming Budget, a key finance ministry official said the government's kitty from indirect tax collections will fall short of the projected figures for this fiscal.
Any reduction on purifiers would need consensus among state finance ministers.
While recalling the order, the bench agreed to the contention of the law officer that there was a "breach of principle of natural justice" as the government department was not accorded the hearing.
Excise duty collections rose 9.7 per cent to touch Rs 1.05 lakh crore.
Here are the key numbers to watch out for in the Union Budget for 2025-26:
With the Union Budget three months away, major industry chambers have submitted to the government proposals on common taxes, seeking simpler compliance and a quicker resolution of tax disputes.
Service tax accounts for one-third of the total indirect tax collection in the country and the government expects to raise Rs 1.8 lakh crore (Rs 1.8 trillion) through the levy this fiscal.
The revenue from customs, excise and service tax, which make up the indirect taxes, during the April-June quarter of 2010-11 fiscal stood at Rs 56,930.15 crore (Rs 569.3 billion), up from Rs 39,693.78 crore (Rs 396.93 billion) in the year-ago period, a finance ministry official told PTI.
Indirect tax collections increased by 8.82 per cent to Rs 75,655 crore during the first seven months of this fiscal from Rs 69,521 crore in April-October 2002.
The government is likely to revise downwards indirect tax collections target for the current financial year by at least Rs 20,000 crore.
'Global uncertainty is something which definitely occupies the minds of officials when we are preparing for the Budget.'
Total collection of indirect taxes -- excise, customs and service tax -- stood at about Rs 3,55,003 crore (Rs 3,550.03 billion) during the first nine months of 2013-14 as against Rs 3,34,309 crore (Rs 3,343.09 billion) in the year-ago period, sources in the Finance Ministry said.
A shift appears underway in India's tax landscape. States with relatively smaller tax collections like Odisha and Telangana are emerging as the fastest-growing contributors to indirect and direct tax collections, respectively.
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