Good and Services Tax (GST) collection dropped for the second consecutive month in February this year to Rs 85,174 crore. This is over Rs 1,000 crore less than what the government had collected in January.
A Business Standard report said the drop could be due to fewer days in February besides the utilisation of Integrated GST (IGST) credit for tax payments. The collections were the second lowest since the government began implementing GST in July 2017. November witnessed the lowest collection of Rs 83,808 crore. The Centre had set a monthly target of Rs 91,000 crore when it introduced the GST.
The Government continued to receive collections for February till 26 March. Payments under GST are expected to improve.
The Finance Ministry said in a press release that of the Rs 85,174 crore collected Rs 14,945 crore was Central GST, Rs 20,456 crore State GST and Rs. 42,456 crore IGST. Further, Rs 7,317 crore has been collected as compensation cess. A sum of Rs 12,140 crore had been transferred from IGST to CGST account and Rs 13,424 crore had been transferred from IGST to SGST account by way of settlement of funds on account of cross utilisation due to inter-State transactions.
Meanwhile, 1.05 crore people have registered for GST. The Ministry also said that 69 per cent of the total taxpayers (GST) had filed their returns or GST 3B returns.
Revenue from GST revenue has declined mainly due to off transition issues, with the government continuing to make changes.
Many of the steps taken by the GST Council – comprising State Finance Minister - to address liquidity problems faced by businessmen, including tax refund, were implemented from October. Most of these issues are expected to be solved, and revenue receipts are expected to stabilise in the next few months. With the e-way bills being implemented from 1 April, experts see better compliance with GST rules.