New Delhi: GST collection dropped to Rs 94,726 crore in December 2018, lower than Rs 97,637 crore collected in the previous month. Compliance however improved during the month as the total number of sales returns or GSTR-3B filed in December stood at 72.44 lakh, as against 69.6 lakh filed in November. The finance ministry in a statement said of the Rs 94,726 crore collected, Central GST (CGST) collection was Rs 16,442 crore, State GST (SGST) was Rs 22,459 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) was Rs 47,936 crore and Cess was Rs 7,888 crore.
The government has settled Rs 18,409 crore to CGST and Rs 14,793 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement, it said. The total revenue earned by central government and state governments after regular settlement in December was Rs 43,851 crore for CGST and Rs 46,252 crore for SGST, the ministry added.The December revenue collections reflect the purchase and sales activities conducted in November.In the nine months (April-December) of the current fiscal, the government has mopped up over Rs 8.71 lakh crore from Goods and Services Tax (GST). The 2018-19 budget had estimated annual GST collection at Rs 13.48 lakh crore, which means a monthly target of Rs 1.12 lakh crore.
Meanwhile, the government has also notified new annual GST return forms, which are required to be filed by businesses registered under the Goods and Services Tax regime by June 30, 2019.The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on December 31, 2018, notified form GSTR-9, GSTR-9A and GSTR-9C.The monthly average GST collection in last fiscal (July 2017 – March 2018) was Rs 89,885 crore.The GST revenue could see some more pressure in the coming months as the GST Council has cut rates on 23 items effective January 1, 2019. With the recent round of rate cut, only 28 items are left in the highest tax slab of 28 per cent.
“It appears that the GST revenues are stabilising. During this year, we have had rates heading south, hence it would be difficult for revenue to head north immediately,” Deloitte India Partner M S Mani said.PwC National Indirect Tax Leader Pratik Jain said GST collections in the next couple of months would be on similar lines and there could be more enforcement and investigation cases. The government may want to have a more realistic estimate of GST collection for next year. When the new compliance framework comes in from next fiscal, the collections could improve again as there would be greater control over input credit claimed by businesses,” Jain said.