PTI New Delhi

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. 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. 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.

Meanwhile, The I-T department will by January notify the ITR forms and rules under the simplified Income Tax Act, 2025, which will come into effect from next fiscal beginning April 1, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chief Ravi Agrawal said on Monday. The intent of the department is to keep the I-T Return forms simple to ease compliance under the new law, which replaces the six-decade old Income Tax Act, 1961, he said.