Advance tax collection rise in Q2 fiscal 2009-10

Advance tax collections of the centre - both corporate and personal income tax - have shown positive growth in the second quarter against negative growth registered in the first quarter of the current fiscal, finance ministry sources said.

Corporate tax collections grew 14.1 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal (2009-10) against a negative 3.7 per cent registered in the previous quarter of the current fiscal.

Advance corporate tax collections in the second quarter stood at Rs44, 010 crore against Rs38,367 core in the year-ago quarter and Rs20,728 crore in the first quarter ended 15 June 2009.

Twelve of the top 50 corporate tax payers paid less advanced tax in the second quarter year-on-year, sources said. These included ONGC, SAIL, ICICI Bank, Tisco, HSBC, Citi Bank and Ambuja Cements, among others.

Personal income tax collections grew 1.7 per cent in the second quarter ended 15 September 2009, against a 44 per cent fall registered in the first quarter.

Advance personal income tax collections stood at Rs5,492 crore in the September quarter compared with Rs5,398 crore in the same quarter last fiscal and Rs725 core in the first quarter of the current fiscal.