The Central government collected Rs 16.61 lakh crore in direct taxes after refunds in the financial year 2022-23.

The net direct tax collection figures for FY23 mark an increase of over 17.6 per cent from the previous year's Rs 14.12 lakh crore.

"The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections for the Financial Year (FY) 2022-23 show that Net collections are at Rs 16.61 lakh crore, compared to Rs 14.12 lakh crore in the preceding Financial Year i.e. FY 2021-22, representing an increase of 17.63 per cent," the Finance Ministry said in a release on Monday (3 April).

Further, the net collections have also exceeded budgeted estimates by around Rs 2.41 lakh crore, and revised estimates by 11,000 crore.

"The Budget Estimates (BE) for Direct Tax revenue in the Union Budget for FY 2022-23 were fixed at Rs.14.20 lakh crore which were revised and the Revised Estimates (RE) were fixed at Rs 16.50 lakh crore. The provisional Direct Tax collections (net of the refunds) have exceeded the BE by 16.97 per cent and RE by 0.69 per cent," the ministry said.

The Gross collection of Direct Taxes, before adjusting for refunds, has also seen positive growth. It stands at Rs 19.68 lakh crore for the FY 2022-23, representing a 20.33 per cent increase from the gross collection of Rs 16.36 lakh crore in the preceding year.

Of the total gross tax collections, corporate tax collections stood at Rs 10.04 lakh crore on a gross basis, rising by 16.91 per cent year-on-year.

While personal tax collection in FY23 on a gross basis came at Rs 9.6 lakh crore9, garnering 24.23 per cent YoY growth.

In FY22, gross corporate tax and personal tax collections were at Rs 8.58 lakh crore and Rs 7.73 lakh crore respectively.

Further, refunds of Rs 3.07 lakh crore have been issued in the FY 2022-23 showing an increase of 37.42 per cent over the refunds of Rs 2.23 lakh crore issued in FY 2021-22.