Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked each zonal office of the Income Tax department to monitor advance tax collection and achieve the targets fixed.

“Each region has been allocated target of tax collections. Each assessing officers is required to monitor the advance tax payments by top advance tax payers within its jurisdiction for follow up action ...,” Chidambaram said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The corporates would be paying the second instalment of advance tax and individual their first instalment of advance tax by September 15, 2012.

The advance tax mop-up in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal stood at Rs 33,410 crore, higher than Rs 31,829 crore collected in the corresponding period last year.

Chidambaram said the Income tax department has formulated a Central Action Plan for 2012-13 fiscal for boosting the revenue collections.

“Strategy has been devised to focus on quality scrutiny assessments and collection of the demand raised thereafter.

Special attention has also been given to recovery of arrears demand. Strategy to widen as well as deepen tax bases ... has been laid out,” Chidambaram said.

He said emphasis has been given on enhancing tax collection at source and also utilising the enforcement mechanism to detect tax evasion.

Earlier this week, Chidambaram had exuded confidence of tax authorities achieving the direct tax collection target of Rs 5.70 lakh crore for 2012-13.

Asking assessees to pay advances taxes by due date, he had said “paying taxes is a mark of civilization. If I pay more taxes, I should be more happy and more proud. I am making more money and I am paying more taxes”.

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