GST collections to remain subdued

Kotak Securities says collections may fall further, unless compliance improves notably
Image for representation only.
Image for representation only.

The Kotak Securities said on Tuesday that goods and services tax collections and its compliance in the first four months since the rollout of the new tax regime remain well below the target. And, the situation may not improve in the near-term, it says in a new report released on Tuesday.

“Both collection as well as compliance of GST remain low, with the compliance being at around 50 per cent and is unlikely to increase significantly till the complete framework including returns matching, e-way bill, and reverse charges, is implemented fully,” it noted, adding that this is excluding the Excise duty collections on petroleum products and the basic Customs duty. The two levies have been on an uptick due to the spike in crude prices.

The report cautioned that collections may fall further unless there is a massive improvement in compliance, as the government had massively reduced the tax rates on most of the items. While it has brought down the 28 per cent tax slab to just under 50 items from over 250 items, it has brought as many as 200 items into 18 per cent tax bracket from the 28 per cent earlier.

There are around 9.6 million registered taxpayers under GST, including around 1.5 million of composition dealers, who are required to file taxes quarterly. Total GST collections in October stood at Rs 83,350 crore much below the previous two months, when it averaged at around Rs  92,000 crore each. But, total tax returns (GSTR-3B) in October was 0.7-0.8 million lower than the previous months, till now, the report stated.

The government attributed lower revenues to IGST, overall rationalisation of taxes on certain goods, implementation issues and compliance. “Because of the first time requirement of paying IGST on transfer of goods from one state to another state even within the same company, there was an additional cash flow of IGST in the first three months,” it said. The report noted that overall incidence of taxes on most of the commodities have come down under GST.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com