Hopeful of meeting FY26 direct tax collection target: CBDT Chairman

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Ravi Agrawal on Monday hoped that the budgeted income tax collections for FY26 at Rs 25.20 lakh crore will be met.


Asked about delay in issuance of refunds, he said the department is analysing some of the refund claims which were "high-value or red-flagged" by the system and have also written to taxpayers to file a revised return in case they have forgotten something.


"Low value refunds are being released. We have analysed and found that some wrong refunds or deductions were being claimed. So this is a continuous process. We hope to release the remaining refunds by this month or December," Agrawal told reporters at the inauguration of taxpayers' lounge at the India International Trade Fair (IITF).

With regard to collection, Agrawal said direct tax mop-up is growing at 6.99 per cent as compared to last year, which is an encouraging trend.

"And we hope that by the end of the year, we would be able to meet the targets. The taxpayer response has been also good," he said.

Net direct tax collection grew 6.99 per cent between April 1-November 10 this fiscal to over Rs 12.92 lakh crore on higher corporate tax mop-up and slower refunds. Refund issuances dropped 18 per cent to over Rs 2.42 lakh crore till November 10.

He also said two instalments of advance tax are still left for current fiscal, and due date for filing audit returns for 2024-25 fiscal has been extended.

"We hope that by December 10, we should be able to catch up," he said.

With regard to the new income tax rule which is to be rolled out from April 1, Agrawal said the new rules and forms are expected to be notified by year end or January 2026.

The ITR forms have to be contextual and based on the principle of ease of doing business so that we don't unnecessarily burden the taxpayers.

"So we are working towards putting this in place by January so that taxpayers have sufficient time to adapt their processes within their system. Intent is how to make it simple for taxpayers because form is the first interface through which compliance is there," Agrawal said.