Advance tax from steel, banking sectors registers fall

Sectors like steel and banking paid lesser tax, even as advance tax collection from top 45 corporates increased by 8 per cent for the period ending September 15, a senior Income Tax official said today.
Similarly, there was a fall in the advance tax collection from general insurance sector.
"The advance tax collection from top 45 corporate houses is up by 8.09 per cent for the quarter ending September 15," Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and Head of Mumbai Zone D S Saxena told PTI.
"Except for the country's largest lender State Bank of India, tax collection from the banking sector was down for the quarter. Similar was the case with the steel sector which is also down...," he said.

Mortgage major HDFC reported around 10 per cent increase in its advance tax outgo to Rs 810 crore for the second quarter of the current fiscal. HDFC had paid Rs 735 crore of advance tax in the year-ago period, a company official said.
Private sector lender Yes Bank witnessed a 30 per cent jump to Rs 310 crore from the year ago's Rs 238 crore. For Nabard, it was a Rs 20 crore jump to Rs 495 crore, banking sector sources said.

However, country's largest general insurer New India Assurance's tax dropped to Rs 41 crore from Rs 47 crore year ago, sources said.

Advance tax payment is a system of staggered payments of income taxes across the year done on a quarterly basis. Typically, companies pay 15 per cent of their tax liabilities in the first quarter, which goes up as the financial year progresses.
The amount of taxes paid by a company is also a barometer of its performance for the period and how it sees the year turning up. It can also serve as an evidence to establish the credentials of the economy, especially in times when there are question marks over recovery.