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Deadline for Aadhaar- Direct tax mop-up may fall short by Rs. 50,000 cr in FY 19

PAN linking extended to The government is estimated to have witnessed a shortfall of Rs 50,000 crore
in direct tax collection target of Rs 12 lakh crore
Sep 30 for 2018-19, a senior finance ministry official said.
The government extended the dead- The shortfall in direct tax mop-up coupled with
line for linking PAN lower GST realisation may have implications on
with biometric ID fiscal deficit, which the government has pegged
Aadhaar by 6 at 3.4 per cent of the GDP.
months till Sep-
tember 30, an official statement "Direct tax collection for 2018-19 is around Rs 11.5 lakh crore...," the official
said. This is the sixth time the gov- said. The government had revised the direct tax collection target upwards to
ernment has extended the deadline Rs 12 lakh crore from the original Budget Estimate of Rs 11.5 lakh crore for
for individuals to link their Perma- 2018-19. It was expecting higher collections from corporate taxes. The revision
nent Account Number (PAN) to was made during the interim Budget for 2019-20 in February.
Aadhaar. The target for GST collection was revised downwards to Rs 6.44 lakh crore from
In June last year, the government the Budget Estimate of Rs 7.44 lakh crore. The GST mop-up is also estimated to
had said that PAN has to be linked have missed the revised target. The GST Council had reduced tax rates on sev-
with the biometric ID by March 31. eral items during 2018-19.
"....now the cut-off date for intimat-
ing the Aadhaar number and linking India tops remittance rankings again with $79-billion
PAN with Aadhaar is September 30,
2019, unless specifically exempted," in 2018
the Central Board of Direct Taxes India retained its position as the world's top recipient of remittances with its
(CBDT) said in a statement. diaspora sending a whopping USD 79 billion back home in 2018, the World Bank
However, quoting of Aadhaar will be said in a report. India was followed by China (USD 67 billion), Mexico (USD 36
mandatory while filing income tax billion), the Philippines (USD 34 billion), and Egypt (USD 29 billion), the global
returns (ITRs) with effect from April lender said.
1, 2019. The CBDT said there were With this, India has retained its top spot on remittances, according to the lat-
reports that those PANs which are est edition of the World Bank's Migration and Development Brief. Over the last
not linked with Aadhaar number by three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from USD 62.7
March 31 may be invalidated, follow- billion in 2016 to USD 65.3 billion 2017.
ing which the matter was considered "Remittances grew by more than 14 percent in India, where a flooding disaster
by the government and the date in Kerala likely boosted the financial help that migrants sent to families," the
extended till September 30. Bank said.

12 | 2019 | MAY | BANKING FINANCE