Chandigarh: GST collection falls by 29% in 5 months

CHANDIGARH: The coronavirus pandemic has hit goods and services tax (GST) collection of the UT administration, bringing it down by 29.5% in five months from April to August as compared to the same period last year, according to data released by the finance ministry.
The ministry told Parliament GST collection had dipped up to 44% in various states/UTs. In response to a question, the minister of state for finance, Anurag Singh Thakur, submitted the figures. For Chandigarh, the GST collection dropped to Rs 578 crore against Rs 821 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

In August, the GST collection stood at Rs 138.52 crore. The revenue for August was nearly down by 13% of the GST collected in the same month last year. In August 2019, Rs 160 crore was collected from GST.
Of the gross collection of Rs 138.52 crore in August, central goods and services tax (CGST) was of Rs 26.34 crore, state goods and services tax (SGST) of Rs 36.61 crore, integrated goods and services tax (IGST) of Rs 74.88 crore and cess of Rs 0.69 crore.
The imposition of lockdown in April and May was the key reason behind the drop. “The lockdown the relaxation given by the government to taxpayers with turnover less than Rs 5 crore in filing of returns till September are the reasons behind low collection of GST in the first five months,” said a senior UT official. However, with selective opening of business establishments in Unlock 1, the revenue collection has started going up.
The official said tax collection would further improve with the opening of bars in hotels and restaurants. The UT has already collected around Rs 5 crore as licensing fee from bar owners, which will further increase as all bar owners deposit the fee in the coming days.