The top 100 corporate taxpayers' advance tax payout for the December 15 instalment increased 18 per cent on a year-on-year basis, a top Finance Ministry official said.

On a sequential basis, the cumulative advance tax payout of these companies for the December 15 instalment increased 20 per cent over the payout for the September 15 instalment, Mr S.S.N. Moorthy, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), told reporters on the sidelines of a tax seminar organised by Assocham here.

Mr Moorthy, however, declined to put a number to the total advance tax payouts of the top 100 corporate taxpayers. The final numbers are still being compiled. There could be some more coming in, he noted.

He expressed confidence that the budget estimate for direct taxes for 2010-11 would be comfortably met going by the trend in direct tax revenue receipts.

On international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and income tax law, Mr Moorthy told Business Line the Finance Ministry was yet to take a call on IFRS even as a representative of income tax department is consulting the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on the matter.

The income tax law or the proposed direct taxes code do not directly address tax treatment where IFRS is adopted.

The CBDT Chairman also said at the seminar that the implementation of goods and services tax (GST) would boost direct tax collections as all transactions will be transparent. The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman, Mr S. Dutt Majumder, pointed out that one of the requirements of the proposed GST system is that it would be PAN-based. That (PAN) is the link between GST and income tax. It will certainly give a boost to income tax collections as well, Mr Majumder said.

Meanwhile, Mr Moorthy also ruled out retention of profit-based tax deduction for special economic zone (SEZ) units under the proposed direct taxes code. We have had intensive discussions with the Commerce Ministry on tax treatment of SEZ units under the proposed DTC. We are of the view that investment-linked incentives only should be allowed and not profit-linked deductions, Mr Moorthy said while ruling out any change in stance.