GST collections at all-time high of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore in December
NEW DELHI: Goods and services tax (GST) collections soared to an all-time high of Rs 1.15 lakh crore in December 2020, helped by better compliance by companies following the I-T department’s crackdown on tax evaders and pick-up in economic activities. The mop-up in GST, which is levied when a consumable item is sold or a service rendered, was 12% higher than that in the same month in 2019.
The latest GST mop-up, which had plummeted to Rs 32,172 crore in April 2020 in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown, marks the highest since the indirect tax regime was rolled out in 2017. The highest collection to date was Rs 1,13,866 crore in April 2019.
“This is the highest growth in monthly revenues for the last 21 months. This has been due to the combined effect of the rapid economic recovery post-pandemic and the nation-wide drive against GST evaders and fake bills along with many systemic changes introduced recently, which have led to improved compliance,” the finance ministry said.
Of the total GST revenue of At Rs 1,15,174 crore, Central GST was Rs 21,365 crore, State GST Rs 27,804 crore, while Integrated GST stood at Rs 57,426 crore. The Cess collection stood at Rs 8,579 crore.
“The government settled Rs 23,276 crore to CGST and Rs 17,681 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by the Union government and the state governments after regular settlement in the month of December 2020 was Rs 44,641 crore for CGST and Rs 45,485 crore for the SGST,” the finance ministry added.
Multiple reasons
According to the finance ministry, “the combined effect of the rapid economic recovery post pandemic and the nation-wide drive against GST evaders and fake bills along with many systemic changes introduced recently” helped improve collections