Pharma to tourism: Top firms under I-T dept lens over advance tax payment

Many companies in sectors like pharma, tourism defer payment despite growth

The income-tax (I-T) department is set to crack down on dozens of marquee companies which are among leading advance tax payers, but paid less even when their business was doing well.

According to I-T sources, the department conducted an extensive analysis where it found that companies from sectors such as pharmaceuticals, hospitality, entertainment and tourism were deferring advance tax payments. The tax sleuths also discovered that there were lower payments even when growth was intact.

“While examining the quarterly financial results to estimate these assessees’ advance tax liability, it was observed that that the payment was not commensurate with the