GST Collections Cross Rs 1 Lakh-Crore Mark For Third Straight Month

The government’s goods and services tax collection crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for a third consecutive month. The revenue from the indirect tax for December was Rs 1,10,828 crore against the targeted Rs 1.15 lakh crore.

GST collections were aided by restrictions imposed by the government on availing input tax credit by taxpayers. The government had in October restricted the quantum of the input tax credit, to be availed by a taxpayer, to 20 percent of eligible credit if all invoices are uploaded by the taxpayers’ suppliers. From January, the restriction to avail input tax credit has been cut further to 10 percent.

GST collections for December, collected in January, was 8.12 percent higher versus Rs 1,02,503 crore in the same month last year and compares with Rs 1.03 lakh crore collected for both October and November.

Break-Up Of GST Collections For December:

• Central GST: Rs 20,944 crore
• State GST: Rs 28,224 crore
• Integrated GST: Rs 53,013 crore
• Compensation Cess: Rs 8,637 crore

Integrated GST is settled between the states and the central government based on consumption in respective states. Central GST and State GST after the settlement of IGST was Rs 20,944 crore, and Rs 28,224, respectively.

The number of GST returns filed improved over the previous month. The total number of GSTR-3B returns filed for December, by Jan. 31, stood at 83 lakh compared with 81.2 lakh filed in November, and 77.83 lakh in October.

The government has collected Rs 10.18 lakh crore in GST collections so far this fiscal, versus Rs 9.73 lakh crore a year ago. That’s a 4.6 percent increase in revenue collection so far.

In January, the finance ministry marginally increased its monthly GST collection target to Rs 1.15 lakh crore for December and January, to be realised in January and February from Rs 1.1 lakh crore earlier. The target for March has been set at Rs 1.25 lakh crore, according to an official memo reviewed by BloombergQuint.