Direct Tax Collection is the driving force behind all the economic initiatives taken by the government. Hence it is very critical that the Tax Collections are at par as per the estimates. Any deviation from the estimate will result in a fiscal deficit for the government. A major chunk of this Direct Tax Collection comes from Advance Tax Collections which are made by every tax pay
1. In case of Tax payer other than Companies
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Due Date of Installment
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Amount Payable
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On or before 15th Sep
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Not less than 30% of the Advance Tax Liability
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On or before 15th Dec
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Not less than 60% of the Advance Tax Liability as reduced by the amount, if any, paid in earlier installment.
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On or before 15th Mar
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100% of the Advance Tax Liability as reduced by the amount, if any, paid in earlier installments
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2. In case of Companies
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Due Date of Installment
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Amount Payable
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On or before 15th June
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Not less than 15% of the Advance Tax Liability
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On or before 15th Sept
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Not less than 45% of the Advance Tax Liability as reduced by the amount, if any, paid in earlier installment.
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On or before 15th Dec
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Not less than 75% of the Advance Tax Liability as reduced by the amount, if any, paid in earlier installments
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On or before 15th March
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100% of the Advance Tax Liability as reduced by the amount, if any, paid in earlier installments
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The government also takes out media advertisements to remind assessees to pay Advance Tax before due dates.
This year the advance tax collections figures as per the income tax department are Rs 27,400Cr against the target of Rs 31,900Cr. Last year, against the target of Rs 26,000Cr, the department reported collections of Rs 25,800Cr. This happened even after the Income Tax Department extended the last date for filing advance tax to March 18 from March 15 to facilitate more tax collections. The Income Tax Department for 80% of the direct Tax Collections depends on large business houses, but this time they have not been instrumental in keeping up with the numbers.
This has put the department in tight spot as they are now the sales people who will have to drum up numbers in order to lower the fiscal deficit. This may in turn lead to Income Tax Department being more aggressive and vigilant in respect of returns filed for the financial year. The Annual returns of such high tax paying individuals & companies will now be watched and scrutinized more closely. There will be a lot of notices, assessment orders and scrutiny orders that will be flying of the Income Tax officer’s desk.
As a result the Tax payer has to be more careful while paying taxes and filing returns.
One must make sure that the return filed is proper and has income declared from all the sources.
So this year pay a little more attention to your return or get it filed through professionals who know the basics of Income tax and also the working style of the income tax department.
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