New Delhi, May 9 (IANS) The Central Board of Direct Taxes is stepping up efforts to recover Rs 2.57 lakh crore in confirmed tax demands in the current fiscal year, a report has said.

Under the enforcement drive, special teams will track the top 10,000 high‑value arrear cases nationwide in FY27, the tax department officials told NDTV Profit.

Tax recovery and compliance monitoring will see a technology-driven push from artificial intelligence, data analytics and digital forensics, they said.

The CBDT officials said recovery teams may also use the CERSAI mortgage and asset database to trace properties and secured assets linked to defaulters.

The tax department will monitor top advance‑tax payers and identify misuse of exemptions and deductions, it added.

In FY26, the board disposed of 2.24 lakh appeals involving disputed demand of Rs 8.27 lakh crore.

Pending appeals have declined from 5.40 lakh to 4.95 lakh during FY26, the department officials said, adding that directions have been provided to officers to focus on recovery from non-compliant taxpayers.

FY27 direct tax collection target stood at 26.97 lakh crore as per the Budget 2026.

Moreover, India’s direct tax collections inched up moderately in FY26 on an annual basis but missed the government’s revised estimates, due to evolving macro-economic conditions.

Net direct tax collections rose 5.1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 23.4 lakh crore in FY26 as per provisional data, short of the Revised Estimate (RE) of Rs 24.21 lakh crore by approximately Rs 81,000 crore, highlighting weaker-than-anticipated buoyancy in tax revenues.

The government’s newly implemented Income Tax Act 2025 has made India’s tax system simpler, easier to understand and more taxpayer-friendly, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (IT & TP) Nirupama Kotru said on Friday.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of an awareness programme here, she said the reforms are aimed at helping ordinary citizens file returns without confusion and reducing dependence on tax professionals for basic compliance.

—IANS

aar/ag