The Centre’s net direct tax collection grew 4.42% in 2020-21 at ₹9.45 lakh crore over the revised estimate (RE) of ₹9.05 lakh crore after giving ₹2.61 lakh crore refunds to the taxpayer, Union finance ministry said on Friday.

The net direct tax collections represent 104.46% of the revised estimates of Rs 9.05 lakh crore of Direct Taxes for the FY 2020-21, said the Finance Ministry in a statement released Friday.

The Gross collection of Direct Taxes (before adjusting for refunds) for FY21 stands at Rs 12.06 lakh crore. This includes Corporation Tax (CIT) at Rs. 6.31 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT) including Security Transaction Tax(STT) at Rs. 5.75 lakh crore; Advance Tax of Rs. 4.95 lakh crore; Tax Deducted at Source (including Central TDS) of Rs 5.45 lakh crore; Self-Assessment Tax of Rs 1.07 lakh crore; Regular Assessment Tax of Rs 42,372 crore; Dividend Distribution Tax of Rs 13,237 crore and Tax under other minor heads of Rs 2,612 crore, the statement added.

The government said that despite an extremely challenging year, the advance tax collections for FY21 stand at Rs 4.95 lakh crore, depicting a year-on-year growth of approximately 6.7 per cent.

The ministry added that refunds amounting to Rs 2.61 lakh crore have been issued in FY21 as against refunds of Rs 1.83 lakh crore in the FY20, thereby marking a rise of nearly 42.1 per cent on-year.

For 2021-22, the centre has budgeted direct tax collections at Rs 11.08 lakh crore, as per the budget documents. When asked if this target was in danger of not being met as Covid-19 cases rise again and economic activity is expected to be hit because of localised lockdowns, Modi said that the tax department is confident of meeting the targets.

“We know that times are difficult. We are helping taxpayers through initiatives like faceless assessment and faceless appeal. We are confident that we will be able to meet the current targets,” he said.

The Economic Survey for FY21 had projected that the economy will rebound 11% in FY22 after a 7.7% contraction in the last fiscal year, aided by continued normalization of economic activities. In absolute terms, India’s real gross domestic product, which contracted in FY21, will go past the pre-pandemic year of FY20 in FY22 by a small margin, the survey had said.