Gross direct tax collections for the financial year 2022-2023 grew by nearly 26% in comparison to the previous financial year, the Union government said on Sunday.

The gross collection of direct taxes stood at Rs 13,63,649 crore as of December 17 in 2022-’23 as compared to Rs 10,83,150 crore last year, which amounted to an increase of 25.90%. Direct taxes comprise levies on corporate and individual income.

The Ministry of Finance also announced that net direct tax collections increased by 19.81%, standing at Rs. 11,35,754 crore as compared to last year’s Rs 9,47,959 crore.

The amount is about 80% of the Budget target of estimated direct tax collection of Rs 14.20 lakh crore this financial year, according to PTI.

The cumulative Advance Tax collection for the first, second and third quarters of the current fiscal year stands at Rs 5,21,302 crore against Rs 4,62,038 crore for the corresponding period last year. This marks a growth of 12.83%, the ministry said.

“There has been a remarkable increase in the speed of processing of income tax returns filed during the current fiscal, with almost 96.5% of the duly verified ITRs having been processed till 17.12.2022,” it said. “This has resulted in faster issue of refunds with almost a 109% increase in the number of refunds issued in the current financial year.”

The refund amount has also seen a growth of over 68.57%, increasing from Rs 1,35,191 crore last fiscal to Rs 2,27,896 crore this year.