Advance tax collections in the December quarter amounted to Rs 2.26 trillion, registering a 16.5% sequential growth and a near 13% rise on an annual basis, indicating that economic recovery has maintained its momentum. In the second quarter of the fiscal, advance tax collections had grown by a little over 10% on year.

The cumulative advance tax collections for the first, second and third quarter of the current fiscal grew 12.83% from a year ago to Rs 5.21 trillion as on December, according to official data released on Sunday.

The advance tax collections include corporation tax of Rs 3.97 trillion and personal income tax of Rs 1.23 trillion.

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The cumulative advance tax collections for the first and second quarter of the fiscal amounted to Rs 2.95 trillion as on September 17, 2022. This indicates that the advance tax collections for the third tranche ended December 15 amounted to Rs 2.26 trillion. The advance tax mop-up was at Rs 1.01 trillion in the June quarter and the September quarter collections were seen at Rs 1.94 trillion.

Advance taxes are paid by companies, LLPs and individuals in four instalments in a financial year: 15% by June 15, 45% by September 15, 75% by December and 100% by March 15.

There have been concerns that corporate advance tax collections could slow down in the third quarter on the back of rising inflation and slowing growth.

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Gross direct tax collections grew 25.9% to Rs 13.6 trillion for the fiscal till December 17, 2022, from Rs 10.8 trillion a year ago. Gross collections include corporate tax mop-up of Rs 7.2 trillion and personal income tax revenue of Rs 6.3 trillion.

The direct tax kitty net of refunds from April 1 to December 17 also grew 19.8% to Rs 11.3 trillion from Rs 9.4 trillion a year ago. The net direct tax collection includes corporate tax at Rs 6.06 trillion and personal income tax at Rs 5.2 trillion.

“There has been a remarkable increase in the speed of processing of income tax returns filed during the current fiscal, with almost 96.5% of the duly verified ITRs having been processed till December 17,” a statement by the Central Board of Direct Taxes said, adding that this has resulted in faster issue of refunds with an almost 109% increase in the number of refunds issued in the current financial year.

Refunds amounting to Rs 2.2 trillion have been issued in the current fiscal till December 17 against refunds worth Rs 1.3 trillion a year ago.