Advance tax collection in Q1 is up by 10 %

Income tax officials on Friday said advance tax collections from the top 100 companies are 10 per cent higher in the first quarter of the current financial year as compared to last year's quarter.

The country's largest bank, State Bank of India, led with an advance tax outgo of Rs1,170 crore, compared to Rs1,100 crore in the same period last year. Other banks like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank also paid 25 per cent higher taxes at Rs500 crore. In fact, most of the leading banks have paid higher taxes.

On the other hand, many leading companies showed a drop in their payments. These include Reliance Industries Ltd, Larsen & Toubro and Hindalco. RIL paid lower advance tax of Rs768 crore, compared to Rs900 crore in the corresponding period last year. L&T saw its outgo falling to Rs160 crore from Rs180 crore. Hindalco's outgo fell from Rs70 crore to Rs50 crore.

Of the state-owned oil marketing companies, Indian Oil Corp, the country's largest fuel retailer, paid Rs125 crore against zero payment in the previous year. Bharat Petroleum Corp has paid lower advance tax of Rs70 crore compared to Rs75 crore in the same quarter last year, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd has also paid lower advance tax of Rs40 crore compared to Rs 60 crore last year.

Life Insurance Corporation, the biggest insurance company, has paid Rs630 crore as advance tax payment this quarter, higher than the Rs582 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The National Stock Exchange paid higher advance tax at Rs22 crore, compared to Rs18 crore in the same period last year.