Increased tax collections will help the nation to expand its economic horizons and take it to loftier heights. — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) 1525165228000

NEW DELHI: India’s monthly goods and services tax (GST) collections crossed Rs 1 lakh crore for the first time in April, indicating that the indirect tax regime was stabilising and that economic revival was picking up pace. GST was rolled out across the country on July 1last year.Gross GST revenue in April stood at Rs 1.03 lakh crore, the finance ministry said in a statement, against a monthly average of Rs 90,000 crore in the July-March period. April collections are for the month of March.“GST collections in April exceeding Rs 1 lakh crore is a landmark achievement and a confirmation of increased economic activity as brought out by other reports,” finance minister Arun Jaitley tweeted. “With the improved economic climate, introduction of eway bill and improved GST compliance, GST collections would continue to show a positive trend.” The economy is widely forecast to grow around 7.4% in the current fiscal, up from 6.6% in FY18. Industrial production has exceeded 7% in the three months to February.The finance ministry also attributed the rise to an economic upswing but struck a note of caution on the numbers, saying some of this could be attributed to arrears from previous months. “The buoyancy in the tax revenue of GST reflects the upswing in the economy and better compliance,” the ministry said in a release.“However, it is usually noticed that in the last month of the financial year, people also try to pay arrears of some of the previous months.”“Therefore, this month’s revenue cannot be taken as a trend for the future,” the ministry said. Experts were more upbeat as the phased rollout of e-way bills—which facilitate GST on goods being transported across states and within them—from April 1 is expected to help curb tax evasion even further.“Though there would be some impact of year-end push and adjustments, it is clear that compliance is steadily improving,” said Pratik Jain, partner and leader indirect tax, PwC. “With the introduction of the eway bill system now, one can expect the collection in May also to exceed Rs 1lakh crore.”“With anti-evasion measures like e-way bill already introduced and others like TDS, TCS (tax deducted at source, tax collected at source) and credit matching, which may get introduced in the coming months, the government could be hopeful of very good GST collections in the current fiscal year, that is 2018-19,” said Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY.Gross GST revenue in April stood at Rs 1,03,458 crore, of which central GST was Rs 18,652 crore, state GST Rs 25,704 crore and integrated GST Rs 50,548 crore, including Rs 21,246 crore collected on imports. The compensation cess collected was Rs 8,554 crore, including Rs 702 crore on imports, the government said.The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for March up to April 30 was 6.05 million against 8.71 million registered for GST and required to file returns. The filings by the due date were 69.5% of the total, higher than the trend in earlier months. April was also the month for filing of quarterly returns by small businesses that have opted for the composition scheme, which involves a lower tax payout and minimal paperwork.Out of 1.93 million composition dealers, 1.15 million, or 59.4%, filed quarterly returns and paid a total tax of Rs 579 crore. “While the filing of 3B returns has improved and touched almost 70%, for composition dealers this continues to be less than 60%,” Jain said. “With only Rs 579 crore coming from these dealers, the government might want to investigate it in detail.”The finance ministry said last week that Rs 7.19 lakh crore was mobilised from GST during the August 2017 to March 2018 period, suggesting that collections may be stabilising as the indirect tax regime gains wider acceptance after fluctuations over the past few months. GST receipts rose in December 2017 to Rs 86,703 crore, reversing a decline in the preceding two months— Rs 80,808 crore in November, Rs 83,000 crore in October, from over Rs 92,000 crore in September.It slipped to Rs 86,318 crore in January and to Rs 85,174 crore in February. The latest numbers follow the start of interstate eway bill trials in January, before nationwide implementation on April 1. Intrastate GST began in phases on April 15.“The compliance level as on the due date has steadily increased and, by the end of the financial year, has reached to an average of 65% from around 55-57% observed during initial months,” the finance ministry said on April 27.“The cumulative compliance levels (percentage of returns filed till date) for initial months has crossed 90% and for July, 2018, has reached 96%.”Gross GST revenue in April stood at Rs 1,03,458 crore, of which central GST was Rs 18,652 crore, state GST Rs 25,704 crore and integrated GST Rs 50,548 crore, including Rs 21,246 crore collected on imports. The compensation cess collected was Rs 8,554 crore, including Rs 702 crore on imports, the government said.The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for March up to April 30 was 6.05 million against 8.71 million registered for GST and required to file returns. The filings by the due date were 69.5% of the total, higher than the trend in earlier months. April was also the month for filing of quarterly returns by small businesses that have opted for the composition scheme, which involves a lower tax payout and minimal paperwork.Out of 1.93 million composition dealers, 1.15 million, or 59.4%, filed quarterly returns and paid a total tax of Rs 579 crore. “While the filing of 3B returns has improved and touched almost 70%, for composition dealers this continues to be less than 60%,” Jain said. “With only Rs 579 crore coming from these dealers, the government might want to investigate it in detail.”The finance ministry said last week that Rs 7.19 lakh crore was mobilised from GST during the August 2017 to March 2018 period, suggesting that collections may be stabilising as the indirect tax regime gains wider acceptance after fluctuations over the past few months. GST receipts rose in December 2017 to Rs 86,703 crore, reversing a decline in the preceding two months— Rs 80,808 crore in November, Rs 83,000 crore in October, from over Rs 92,000 crore in September.It slipped to Rs 86,318 crore in January and to Rs 85,174 crore in February. The latest numbers follow the start of interstate eway bill trials in January, before nationwide implementation on April 1. Intrastate GST began in phases on April 15.“The compliance level as on the due date has steadily increased and, by the end of the financial year, has reached to an average of 65% from around 55-57% observed during initial months,” the finance ministry said on April 27.“The cumulative compliance levels (percentage of returns filed till date) for initial months has crossed 90% and for July, 2018, has reached 96%.”