GST collections dip marginally to Rs 86,318 crore in January

Revenue collections under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) fell marginally in January by Rs 385 crore to Rs 86,318 crore.

The collections had picked up in December to touch Rs 86,703 crore, after falling for two straight months.

"The total revenue received under the GST for January 2017 (received up to February 25) has been Rs 86,318 crore," said the Finance Ministry.

Of this, Rs 14,233 crore has been collected as Central GST, Rs 19,961 crore as State GST, Rs 43,794 crore as Integrated GST and Rs 8,331 crore as compensation cess, it added.

Deloitte India's Senior Director M.S. Mani said the lower-than-expected GST collections would push the government to hasten the introduction of anti-evasion measures such as invoice matching, reverse charge on transactions with unregistered dealers and transition credit scrutiny in addition to the e-way bill, expected to roll out from April 1.

"While the GST revenues and number of return filers are gradually increasing or are same as compared with last month's figure, the tax base and revenue numbers have certainly not reached expected levels. This could lead to more enquiries and scrutiny from the tax authorities," Mani said.

According to the Ministry, around 1.03 crore taxpayers have been registered under GST so far and around 57.78 lakh returns were filed.

"This is 69 per cent of total taxpayers who are required to file monthly returns," the Ministry said.

Of the total amount collected as GST, Rs 11,327 crore would be transferred from IGST to CGST account and Rs 13,479 crores to SGST account "by way of settlement of funds on account of cross utilisation of IGST credit for payment of CGST and SGST respectively or due to inter-state business-to-consumer transactions".

"Thus, the total collection of CGST and SGST is Rs 25,560 crore and Rs 33,440 crore respectively, including transfers by way of settlement," said the Ministry.

Before picking up in December, the revenue collection fell for two consecutive months from over Rs 92,000 crore in September to Rs 83,346 crore in October and Rs 80,808 crore in November.

The GST collection for July was over Rs 95,000 crore while for August it was more than Rs 91,000 crore.

--IANS

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