Rs 83,346 crores GST collected till date

The Ministry of Finance on Monday reported that the total collection of Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the month of November 2017 stands at Rs 83,346 crores, till date (November 27).

Further, the Ministry clarified that 95.9 lakh taxpayers have been registered under the GST so far, out of which 15.1 lakh are composition dealers which are required to file returns every quarter. Also, 50.1 lakh returns have been filed for the month of October as on November 26, the Ministry said.

With regards to states, Rs. 87,238 crores was collected by way of SGST in August, September, October and November (till today). Further, on all inter-state trade, a net amount is transferred from IGST to SGST account whenever IGST collected is used for payment of SGST. By way of settlement, an amount of Rs 31,821 crores has been released to the states for the months of August to October, and Rs 13,882 crores is being released by way of settlement to all the states for the month of November, the Ministry said.

As per Goods and Services (Compensation to States) Act 2017, the state Revenue is fully protected against any shortfall in GST collections. States revenues have thus been fully protected taking base year revenue as 2015-16 and providing for a projected revenue growth rate of 14 percent.

Therefore, a compensation amount of Rs. 10,806 crores has been released to all the states for July and August, while Rs 13,695 crores compensation towards September and October is also being released.

In terms of central revenue, the total CGST income for the months of August, September, October and November (till today) has been Rs 58,556 crores. In addition to this, an amount of Rs. 16,233 crores has been transferred from IGST to CGST account by way of settlement of funds on account of Inter-State supply of goods and services in the month of August, September and October. Also, Rs 10,145 crores is being transferred to CGST from IGST account for November 2017 by way of settlement.

The major reason for the gap in income of CGST and SGST is increased CGST liability that has been discharged using transition credit rather than by way of cash. Thus, taxpayers are using the balance credit available with them in the previous tax regime, which is the reason why there is an additional revenue gap in the Centre's revenue.

In terms of returns filed, the Ministry said the total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for the return period July, August, September and October (till November 26) is Rs 58.7 lakh, 58.9 lakh, 57.3 lakh and 50.1 lakh respectively.