Reflecting the economic contraction in the pandemic-hit first quarter of the current fiscal year, gross direct tax collections so far for the June quarter were a nearly third lower than the year-ago period at Rs 1.38 lakh crore. Corporate advance tax collections were down 79% on year in the period while advance payments of personal income tax were lower by 65%.

The total collections of advance taxes, a mechanism used by the large individual and corporate taxpayers, were just Rs 11,714 crore till the June 15 deadline, less than a quarter of Rs 48,917 crore collected in the year-ago period.

Apart from Covid-19 lockdown which brought economic activities to a grinding halt in early April, the collections in the current quarter are also impacted by the lower rates for corporate tax and minimum alternate tax (MAT) announced last year.