Finance Minister P Chidambaram has directed Income-Tax officials to monitor advance tax mop-up, tax deducted at source, and hasten the recovery of tax arrears to attain direct tax target of Rs 1,39,510 crore (Rs 1395.1 billion) in 2004-05.

Stressing the need for widening and deepening the tax net, he asked taxmen to scrutinise whether the income reported by a large section of non-salaried class matched the luxurious life-style led by them.

Interacting with taxmen at the annual conference of Income-Tax Commissioners on July 26-27, Chidambaram also discussed various strategies for achieving the revenue collection target of Rs 1,39,510 crore proposed for direct taxes in the Budget, an official release said on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam asked taxmen to make all efforts to attain the targets for this fiscal.

One of the proposals put forward by the I-T officers was effective monitoring of advance tax and receipts by way of TDS, it said.

Taxmen also decided to take necessary steps for expeditious and time-bound disposal of all high demand cases by Commissioners of Income Tax (appeals), Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and Settlement Commission, which account for bulk of the tax arrear demands.

Taxmen also discussed ways to use the "powers of survey" envisaged under I-T Act as an effective tool for widening the tax base.