BENGALURU: Goods and Service Tax collection in Karnataka has gone up a whopping 18 per cent in October this year compared to the same month last year. This was due to better collection and compliance as well as efforts by all the departments to plug evasion, according to officials.
Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) I S N Prasad and Commercial Taxes Commissioner C Shikha explained that enforcement activities picked up steadily after the lockdowns, and inspection of tax evaders and fraud cases, and tax avoidance, are being taken up on top priority. “The GST collection has gone up because the technology platform has stabilised. They are able to detect wrong input tax credit, and the compliance also has increased. These will continue to increase and GST collection will grow at a faster rate,” former National Finance Commission member Prof Govind Rao said.
The Commercial Taxes Department had taken several proactive steps to ensure better collections, they said. “Vacant posts are filled. There is regular transfer of officers from sensitive posts like the enforcement wing to non-sensitive wings. Departmental audit is picking up. Taxpayers are making payments on audit observations. During lockdown and for some period, there was some slowdown in enforcement activities which has picked up,” they said.