The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is betting on a strong show in the upcoming March 15 advance tax instalment to help it achieve its revised direct tax collection target of Rs 4 lakh crore. As on date, net direct tax collections stood at Rs 2.78 lakh crore, recording an 8 per cent year-on-year growth, 
according to the CBDT Chairman, Mr S.S.N. Moorthy.
Mr Moorthy expressed confidence that the Budget estimate for 2009-10 pegged at about Rs 3.70 lakh crore would be achieved. He, however, declined to comment on whether the internally revised target of Rs 4 lakh crore would be met.
With the economy showing clear signs of a turnaround and given that the fourth quarter of last fiscal was impacted by the global financial meltdown, indications are that corporate profits in Q4 this fiscal will show a big jump. This is leading to expectations of much higher advance tax payouts for the upcoming March 15 instalment on a year-on-year basis. India Inc’s advance tax payout for the December 15 instalment was about Rs 54,000 crore, a 24 per cent jump on a year-on-year basis.
In the wake of the adverse effect of the global economic downturn, the Government had revised downwards the direct tax collection target for 2008-09 to Rs 3.44 lakh crore from the earlier budgeted Rs 3.64 lakh crore.
