GST Collections Cross Rs 1 Lakh Crore Mark For Fourth Straight Month In February

The government's goods and services tax collections crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for a fourth consecutive month. The revenue from the indirect tax for January was Rs 1,05,366 crore, according to a statement by the Union Ministry of Finance.

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 was cut further to 10 percent.

GST mop-up for January, collected in February, was 8.3 percent higher versus Rs 97,247 crore in the same month last year and compares with Rs 1.10 lakh crore and Rs 1.03 lakh crore collected in November and December, respectively.

GST collections have seen an uptrend in the recent months due to several measures taken by tax department, Rajat Mohan, senior partner at AMRG & Associates, said. These, according to him, include austere tax collection targets for tax officers in 2019-20, blocking of tax credit and forcing the taxpayers to pay in cash, and initiating tax recoveries after filing of annual return for financial year 2017-18, and limiting the availability of input tax credit.

According to MS Mani, partner at Deloitte India, monthly revenue indicates that GST collections are becoming stable with new changes like e-invoicing, and with new returns slated for next month, more stability is expected in the future.

Break-Up Of GST Collections For January:

• Central GST: Rs 20,569 crore
• State GST: Rs 27,348 crore
• Integrated GST: Rs 48,503 crore
• Compensation Cess: Rs 8,947 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 43,155 crore, and Rs 43,901 crore, respectively.

The number of GST returns filed were steady over the previous month. The total number of GSTR-3B returns filed for January by Feb. 29 were 83 lakh—same as in December.

The government has collected Rs 11.2 lakh crore in GST collections so far this fiscal, and is expected to help the government in exceeding its revised budget estimate.

In February, the finance ministry revised the GST collection target downwards to Rs 11.26 lakh crore for 2019-20 in Union Budget 2020-21 from Rs 12.17 lakh crore estimated earlier.

The shortfall in GST collections and compensation cess had led to states complaining about inadequate transfer of compensation to them.

Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh's monthly GST collections grew 77 percent, and 51 percent, respectively, the highest among other states. Lakshadweep's revenue dropped the most with monthly revenue collections dropping 20 percent.