NEW DELHI: Amidst escalated tensions between the Centre and states over GST compensation, data released on Tuesday showed that GST collections are still struggling to reach pre-Covid levels.
Total GST receipts for the month of August stood at Rs 86,449 crore, just 88 per cent of collection in the same month last year. Total GST receipts had stood at Rs 87,442 crore in the month of July.
According to the official data, Central GST stands at Rs 15,906 crore and State GST at Rs 21,064 crore. IGST collections stood at Rs 42,264 crore including Rs 19,179 crore collected on the import of goods. Total Cess collection, meanwhile was Rs 7,215 crore, including Rs 673 crore collected on import of goods.
“The government has settled Rs 18,216 crore to CGST and Rs 14,650 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by Central Government and the State Governments after regular settlement in the month of August, 2020 is Rs 34,122 crore for CGST and Rs 35,714 crore for the SGST,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also highlighted that the taxpayers with turnover of less than Rs 5 crore continue to enjoy relaxations with regards to the filing of returns till September. The numbers come at a time when the shortfall in collection, estimated at Rs 3 lakh crore, is threatening to escalate tensions between Centre and states
Poor cess collections and a fall in revenue is causing delays in transferring the compensation owed to states under the GST laws, and even regular IGST revenue shares. With Covid-19 cases rising steadily and their own revenue drying up, the states say that they have been left with little resources, leaving them at the mercy of Centre to manage expenses arising due to the pandemic.
However, analysts expect the situation to improve going forward. PwC Leader (Indirect Tax) Pratik Jain said the trend in the last couple of months seem to have stabilised at around 10 per cent lower than corresponding month last year. “As things are opening up gradually, the collection is likely to be progressively better in coming months,” he pointed out.