GST

Maharashtra

services

The criticism be damned,has brought in more moolah for the state government. Its coffers have seen an increase of 28.08 per cent since the GST regime was enforced.In 2016-17, the government earned Rs 90,525 crore through value added tax (VAT). But after GST kicked in on July 1, 2017, its revenues rose to Rs 1,15,940 crore in 2017-18. “One of the major reasons behind this is that the number of traders who are registered with the state GST department has risen from 8.30 lakh to 14.55 l a k h , ” s a i d s t a t e G S T Commissioner Rajiv Jalota.From April-June this year, the state’s revenues jumped by 39 per cent — to Rs 39,915 crore — as compared to the corresponding period last year.accounts for nearly 15 per cent of the country’s GST collection.States have to be compensated by the Centre for the first five years if their revenues fall as compared to the previous VAT regime.What made a number of traders quickly adopt GST was the realisation that if one buys goods andfrom an unregistered dealer, then a registered dealer would have to pay the entire tax and they won’t get any credit for it. This resulted in big traders, manufactures and service providers insisting that vendors register for GST. Besides, in many cases transporters also refused to carry goods without proper e-way bills, which resulted in registration of a large number of vendors, thus widening the tax net.He said over the past year, data on traders and the returns they have filed have been compiled.“Now, we plan to scrutinise this data thoroughly. If major violations are found, then the vendor will lose his/her GST registration,” he warned.