Advance tax growth after 2nd instalment signals good market sentiment ahead of festive season: Experts

The net direct tax collection registered an increase of 23.51 percent at Rs 8.65 lakh crore till September 16

The 21 percent growth in advance tax collections after its second installment at Rs 3.55 lakh crore is indicative of a good market sentiment ahead of the upcoming festival season, experts said.

September 15 was the deadline to pay the second installment of advance tax for the fiscal year.

“The Advance Tax collections for Financial Year 2023-24 registered 20.73 percent growth as on September 16 stand at Rs. 3.55 lakh crore as compared to Rs 2.94 lakh crore for the corresponding period of 2022-23. The Advance Tax collection comprises CIT at Rs. 2.80 lakh crore and PIT at Rs. 74,858 crore,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

“This is surely a good sign and one of the strong indicators that corporate India has got profitable growth. The increase in Advance tax coupled with robust GST collection is a sign of all around growth. We are also seeing signs of good market sentiment for the upcoming festival season,” Rajeev Dimri, Head of Tax, KPMG India told Moneycontrol.

The net direct tax collection registered an increase of 23.51 percent at Rs 8.65 lakh crore till September 16 as compared to Rs 7 lakh crore during the corresponding period in the last fiscal.

“The economic growth and rising income levels post pandemic have led to a significant increase in tax contributions from individuals and corporates. Simultaneously, the use of strong and effective compliance methods viz. digitization, data sharing and exchange of information between different departments, automatic identification system and data analytics has also helped the government in detecting tax evasion and increasing the effectiveness of tax collection,” Om Rajpurohit, Joint Partner, with AMRG Associates told Moneycontrol.

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The net direct tax collections of Rs 8.65 lakh crore include Corporation Tax (CIT) at Rs. 4.16 lakh crore (net of refund) and Personal Income Tax (PIT) including Securities Transaction Tax (STT) at Rs. 4.47 lakh crore (net of refund).

Refunds amounting to Rs. 1.21 lakh crore have been issued till September 16 this year, the statement said.

The Gross collection of Direct Taxes (before adjusting for refunds) showed a growth of 18.29 percent at Rs. 9.87 lakh crore as on September 16 compared to Rs. 8.34 lakh crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.