Collections Under GST Pick Up In October

The government collected Rs 95,131 crore in revenue under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in October, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and head of GST Network panel, Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters in Bengaluru. The government had collected Rs 93,141 crore in September, he said.

Modi, who heads the Group of Ministers looking into technical issues faced by the GST network, added that the average revenue shortfall for all states has come down to 17.6 percent in October from 28.4 percent in August.

“In rupee terms, the average revenue shortfall was Rs 12,208 crore in August, which has come down to Rs 7,560 crores in October. It is a positive trend that the revenue shortfall is coming down and reflects the system is slowly stabilizing,” he added.

The new indirect tax regime was introduced starting July 1. Since then, there has been some lack on clarity on tax collections and tax rates have had to be adjusted for a number of items. Most recently, on November 10, the government reduced the applicable tax rate for over 200 items. Modi appealed to vendors and manufactures to display MRP stickers comparing the old and new rates in the case of these items. “Those vendors who will not pass the benefits to the customers, states have the right to take measures against them,” he said.

Along with reducing rates in some cases, the government has also made procedural adjustment to make the filing process simpler.

Speaking on issues that have cropped up in the filing of the GSTR-3 summary returns, Modi said that no editing facilities had been provided because of which more than 2 lakh taxpayers couldn’t file the returns.

“By November 20, the editing facility will be operationalized by the GST network," Modi said while adding the administration is working closely with Infosys to smoothen out any glitches in the GST IT backbone. A meeting with Infosys’ non-executive chairman Nandan Nilekani has been scheduled to discuss the matter, Modi said.