New Delhi: Goods and services tax (GST) collections dipped 3.6% in August from the previous month as delayed filing on account of technical glitches took a toll on the overall collection. Going by the experience in July, the kitty is expected to swell as more taxpayers pay even though the due date is over.
Latest data released by the finance ministry on Tuesday showed that in August, the government managed to rake in Rs 90,669 crore, marginally lower than the revised mop-up of Rs 94,063 crore in July. Initial estimates released on August 29 had estimated the July collections at Rs 92,283 crore. The final returns for August (GSTR 3B) had to be filed by September 20.
The data revealed that there were segments where collections had soared, such as through compensation cess, which is levied on tobacco products, pan masala and automobiles. There was a pick-up in demand for large cars, especially SUVs, as the government had planned to increase the cess on these vehicles.
Till Monday, 37.63 lakh of the 68.2 lakh entities registered for GST had filed their returns. “The above figures obviously do not include GST to be paid by 10.24 lakh assessees, who have opted for the composition scheme. Additionally, there are still a number of assessees who have not filed their return either for July or August, 2017. The increase in the above stated figures will be informed in due course,” the government said in a statement.
Businesses have been complaining about difficulty in filing and submitting returns through the GST Network (GSTN) tax portal with many consultants complaining of regular outages and have blamed the lack of adequate capacity on the IT backbone supporting the new tax regime. The accusation has, however, been trashed by GSTN.
“It is too early to hazard a guess on the overall GST collections as many taxpayers have still not paid GST; there is inconsistency in collections because of transitional credit and exporters not being able to claim refund of GST. Things will settle down only in the next few months wherein a clearer picture on GST revenues would emerge,” said Abhishek Jain, tax partner at consulting firm EY India.
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