Corporate tax mop-up rises 34% in first 4 mths of FY23

“The corporate tax collections during FY 2022-23 (till 31st July, 2022) register a robust growth of 34% over the corporate tax collections in the corresponding period of FY 2021-22 @FinMinIndia,” the Income Tax Department said in a series of tweets.

During 2021-22, corporate tax collections stood at Rs 7.23 lakh crore, a growth of over 58 per cent from 2020-21, it said. “Even when compared to collections of FY 2018-19 (pre-COVID period), the collections of FY 2021-22 are higher by over 9 per cent. The positive trend of growth continues, but for the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during FY2020-21, when the corporate tax collections took a temporary hit,” it said.

This indicates that the “simplified tax regime with low rates and no exemptions has lived up to its promise”, it said.

As per data released by the Controller General of Accounts, the corporate tax collections stood at Rs 1.46 lakh crore in April-July of the previous financial year. As per latest government data, in April-June, the government collected Rs 1.61 lakh crore as corporate tax, up 29.84 per cent year-on-year.

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Earlier in the day, some opposition leaders pointed to revenue loss through corporate tax cut and linked it to the ongoing debate of distribution of freebies by political parties.

Under the new regime introduced in September 2019, the corporate tax rate for all existing companies was cut to 22 per cent (without surcharge and cess) from 30 per cent earlier. A tax rate of 15 per cent was announced under Section 115BAB for newly incorporated domestic companies, which make fresh investment by March 31, 2023, for manufacturing, production, research or distribution of such articles or things manufactured. This was extended by one year in this year’s Budget to March 31, 2024.