Despite unrest consuming nearly five months of business in the valley last year, the Income Tax department has registered a growth of 27% in its revenue collection in Jammu and Kashmir at Rs 1,197 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2011.
“There has been a growth of 27% in the gross tax collection in Jammu and Kashmir for the financial year 2010-11,” Chief Commissioner, Income Tax (Amritsar), KS Pathania told reporters.
The department had collected a tax of Rs 924 crore during 2009-10, he said.
The total tax collection for FY 2010-11 for the entire country was Rs 446 lakh crore and the department has set a target of 19% increase, amounting to Rs 532 lakh crore for the current fiscal.
He said, however, the refunds also went up from Rs 40 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 340 crore in 2010-11.
Pathania said in its drive against tax evasion, the I-T department has recovered nearly Rs 9 crore from businessmen in the state as they had not disclosed the amount for tax assessment during the last financial year.
In April this year, a businessman in Jammu surrendered Rs 16.2 crore in undisclosed income before the department, he said.
Pathania said the department wants to educate people about income tax rules and will be organising workshops at school level.
“The officers of the department will go to schools to educate the students about the income tax rules so that they become responsible citizens later in the life. Familiarisation tours to income tax offices for students will also be organised,” he said.
He said regular interactions are being organised with traders, professionals and other tax payers to make them aware about the income tax rules.
“We are not only here to collect income tax. We want people to be aware about tax exemptions, filing of returns and refunds available to them,” he said.
