BENGALURU: GST collection in Karnataka for the financial year ending March 2022 stood at Rs 8,750 crore, a neat recovery from March 2021, when it was a mere Rs 7,915 crore. Despite this, some experts said collection is not as good as expected — GST for March is nearly Rs 426 crore short compared to February when collection was Rs 9,176 crore, a good Rs 176 crore above the psychological barrier of Rs 9,000 crore.
Commissioner of Commercial Taxes C Shikha disagreed. “The State Goods and Service Tax, or SGST, for March 2022 is 13 per cent higher than SGST revenue for the same month last year. The trend is tracked by comparing month-on-month data, as the number of days varies. March collection is nothing but returns filed for February activities,” she said. The total revenue collection, including GST, has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, said Shikha.
‘Strong sign of post-Covid recovery’
“Since February is a shorter month, comparing it with January collection will not give a correct picture. The collections in the last quarter are encouraging and indicate a recovery in business activity,’’ Shikha said. Commenting on the overall trend, she said,
“The Commercial Taxes department had undertaken anti-evasion activities, especially action against fake billers, ramped up scrutiny and this has been contributing to enhanced GST.’’ Revenue collection for this year -- which includes taxes collected by the Commercial Taxes department, including GST, Karnataka Sales Tax mostly from petrol and diesel sales, Professional Tax and compensation for this year -- crossed Rs 1 lakh crore as on March 31. Shikha said it is clearly a strong sign of postpandemic recovery
GST collection rises to an all-time high in March
New Delhi: The Goods and Services Tax collections soared to an all-time high of Rs 1.42 lakh crore in March as the fiscal year-end frenzy to meet targets saw strong sales and crackdown on evasions brought in more taxes. With the record collection, the Centre’s GST mop-up has exceeded the revised budget target of Rs 5.70 lakh crore set for the previous fiscal ended March 31, 2022. P13