diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/xml/pull/MXParser.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/xml/pull/MXParser.java
index 40a12a21..a952b0eb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/xml/pull/MXParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/xml/pull/MXParser.java
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ private void reset()
         // System.out.println("reset() called");
         location = null;
         lineNumber = 1;
-        columnNumber = 0;
+        columnNumber = 1;
         seenRoot = false;
         reachedEnd = false;
         eventType = START_DOCUMENT;
@@ -2918,7 +2918,7 @@ private void parseComment()
             posStart = pos;
 
         final int curLine = lineNumber;
-        final int curColumn = columnNumber;
+        final int curColumn = columnNumber - 4;
         try
         {
             final boolean normalizeIgnorableWS = tokenize && !roundtripSupported;
@@ -3035,7 +3035,7 @@ private boolean parsePI()
         if ( tokenize )
             posStart = pos;
         final int curLine = lineNumber;
-        final int curColumn = columnNumber;
+        final int curColumn = columnNumber - 2;
         int piTargetStart = pos;
         int piTargetEnd = -1;
         final boolean normalizeIgnorableWS = tokenize && !roundtripSupported;
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/xml/pull/MXParserTest.java b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/xml/pull/MXParserTest.java
index 0cb9c061..68d607a9 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/xml/pull/MXParserTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/util/xml/pull/MXParserTest.java
@@ -286,6 +286,35 @@ public void testValidCharacterReferenceDecimal()
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testParserPosition()
+            throws Exception
+    {
+        String input = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><!-- A --> \n <!-- B --><test>\tnnn</test>\n<!-- C\nC -->";
+
+        MXParser parser = new MXParser();
+        parser.setInput( new StringReader( input ) );
+
+        assertEquals( XmlPullParser.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION, parser.nextToken() );
+        assertPosition( 1, 39, parser );
+        assertEquals( XmlPullParser.COMMENT, parser.nextToken() );
+        assertPosition( 1, 49, parser );
+        assertEquals( XmlPullParser.IGNORABLE_WHITESPACE, parser.nextToken() );
+        assertPosition( 2, 3, parser ); // end when next token starts
+        assertEquals( XmlPullParser.COMMENT, parser.nextToken() );
+        assertPosition( 2, 12, parser );
+        assertEquals( XmlPullParser.START_TAG, parser.nextToken() );
+        assertPosition( 2, 18, parser );
+        assertEquals( XmlPullParser.TEXT, parser.nextToken() );
+        assertPosition( 2, 23, parser ); // end when next token starts
+        assertEquals( XmlPullParser.END_TAG, parser.nextToken() );
+        assertPosition( 2, 29, parser );
+        assertEquals( XmlPullParser.IGNORABLE_WHITESPACE, parser.nextToken() );
+        assertPosition( 3, 2, parser ); // end when next token starts
+        assertEquals( XmlPullParser.COMMENT, parser.nextToken() );
+        assertPosition( 4, 6, parser );
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testProcessingInstruction()
         throws Exception
@@ -517,7 +546,7 @@ public void testMalformedProcessingInstructionNoClosingQuestionMark()
         }
         catch ( XmlPullParserException ex )
         {
-            assertTrue( ex.getMessage().contains( "processing instruction started on line 1 and column 2 was not closed" ) );
+            assertTrue( ex.getMessage().contains( "processing instruction started on line 1 and column 1 was not closed" ) );
         }
     }
 
@@ -545,7 +574,7 @@ public void testSubsequentMalformedProcessingInstructionNoClosingQuestionMark()
         }
         catch ( XmlPullParserException ex )
         {
-            assertTrue( ex.getMessage().contains( "processing instruction started on line 1 and column 13 was not closed" ) );
+            assertTrue( ex.getMessage().contains( "processing instruction started on line 1 and column 12 was not closed" ) );
         }
     }
 
@@ -661,4 +690,8 @@ public void testMalformedXMLRootElement5()
         }
     }
 
+    private static void assertPosition(int row, int col, MXParser parser) {
+        assertEquals("Current line", row, parser.getLineNumber());
+        assertEquals("Current column", col, parser.getColumnNumber());
+    }
 }