The government could face a shortfall of over Rs 17,000 crore in tax collection, budgeted at Rs 317,733 crore, during the current financial year.

While a shortfall of at least Rs 10,000 crore is expected in corporation tax collection, the government anticipates a shortfall of Rs 7,000 crore in excise.

According to advance tax collection figures up to December 24, the net direct tax collection rose 24.3 per cent to Rs 79,460 crore, mainly on account of the low growth in corporation tax.

Corporation tax collection during the period rose 18 per cent to Rs 45,366 crore, against the annual budgeted growth of 40 per cent.

Normally, 75 per cent of the annual corporation tax proceeds are collected by December 15. By that yardstick, the government can hope to mop up around Rs 60,000 crore during the fiscal year, against the Budget estimate of Rs 88,436 crore.

In a best-case scenario, officials said the government could hope to collect 35 per cent of the budgeted collections in the last quarter. This would translate to Rs 70,000 crore for the full fiscal year.

A revenue department official said the reduced profitability of banks and oil companies could be one of the factors for lower than expected corporate tax collection.

The shortfall in corporation tax could be partly made up by higher income-tax collection. The government could end the fiscal year with income-tax collection of around Rs 55,000 crore, against the Budget estimate of Rs 50,929 crore. Usually, 40 per cent of the income-tax proceeds come in by March 15.

From April to December 24, income-tax collection rose 33.8 per cent to Rs 34,094 crore. The government is targeting 26.5 growth per cent in income-tax collection and has already mopped up 66.9 per cent of the Budget estimate.

Corporate tax collection accounts for 51.3 per cent of the Budget estimate while the net collection is 57.02 per cent of the Budget estimate.

On the indirect tax front, along with excise, service tax collection is also a cause of concern. Service tax collection up to November 30 are estimated at Rs 7,013 crore, against the monthly moving target of Rs 8,428 crore.

Excise collection during the same period was Rs 59,819 crore, against the moving target of Rs 66,205 crore. Customs duty collection was, however, on course, with the government realising Rs 35,270 crore till November 30, against a moving target of Rs 36,849 crore.

The buoyancy in Customs collection has resulted in the revenue department raising the internal target by Rs 5,000 crore to help the government make up for the shortfall in excise.