GST Collections In Line With Projections, No Shortfall: CBEC Chairperson

Tax collections under the new goods and services tax (GST) regime are more or less in line with the projections and there are no plans yet to revise the annual revenue targets, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) chairperson Vanaja Sarna said.

Sarna said the target for revenue for the department of customs is about Rs 9.68 lakh crore for the current fiscal. Customs collection growth is “alright”, she said, adding that the GST roll out from 1 July has been relatively smooth.

“The roll out has been relatively smooth and collections are more or less coming in line,” she said, adding that it is very difficult to say if the targets of tax collections in the new regime would be met or not.

She was replying to a question if the GST collection target may be missed. “It is very difficult to say for the GST regime because it is only two-three months down the line,” she said. She was on Sunday erroneously quoted to say that the indirect revenue collection of the government may fall short of the target this fiscal due to disruption caused by the GST roll out.

The government last week had stated that GST collections for September totalled Rs 92,150 crore. They were over Rs 95,000 crore in July and over Rs 91,000 crore in August. GST, which amalgamates over a dozen taxes, including excise duty and service tax, was rolled out from 1 July.

The CBEC chairperson said it was difficult to access the target as exporters would take refund and there would be input tax credit refund as well. “But I think by and large six month down the line is better time to actually gauge what your revenues are going to be,” she said. Asked if there is any talk of revising the revenue targets, she said: “At the moment there is no thinking because GST has to settle down. So you can only think about revision if you are sure about what you are falling back on. Let the GST roll out little more, then we will take a call.” (PTI)