The month also saw over 91% businesses filing returns and paying taxes
New Delhi: Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in March grew 13% to become the second highest ever at `1.60 lakh crore, taking the growth rate of revenue mop-up for full 2022-23 fiscal to 22%.
March also saw over 91% of the GST-registered businesses filing returns and paying taxes – reflecting greater compliance and improving economic activity.
Gross GST revenue collected in March 2023 is `1,60,122 crore, of which central GST is `29,546 crore, state GST is `37,314 crore, integrated GST is `82,907 crore (including `42,503 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is `10,355 crore, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
In April 2022, GST collection had touched a record high of close to `1.68 lakh crore. The second highest mop-up was recorded in March 2023, at a little over `1.60 lakh crore.
For full 2022-23 fiscal year, gross GST mop-up grew 22% to `18.10 lakh crore. The average gross monthly collection for the full year is `1.51 lakh crore.
March is the fourth time in the just gone by financial year that the monthly gross GST collection has crossed `1.5 lakh crore-mark. Last month also witnessed the highest IGST collection ever, the ministry said.
Revenue for the month of March 2023 is 13% higher than the GST revenue in the same month last year, the ministry said. During the month, revenue from import of goods was 8% higher and revenue from domestic transaction (including import of services) is 14% higher than the revenue from these sources during the same month last year.
The ministry said return filing during March 2023 has been the highest ever. A total of 93.2% of statement of invoices (in GSTR-1) and 91.4% of returns (in GSTR-3B) of February were filed till March 2023 as compared to 83.1% and 84.7%, respectively a year ago.
KPMG in India Partner Indirect Tax Abhishek Jain said the monthly and yearly GST collections point towards the growing trajectory of the Indian economy.
“Another cheer point is the highest ever compliance rate with 91.4% of returns being filed in the month of March, indicating success of revenue authorities and businesses in ensuring tax compliance and preventing tax evasion,” Jain said.
Deloitte India, Partner, Leader – Indirect Tax, Mahesh Jaising said with the growth in economic activity and increased focus on GST analytics based audits, the trend should see upward trajectory in the coming months.
“Also, with the new FTP being rolled out from today, we have to wait and watch the impact on the import-export which is expected to have a role in GST collections too,” Jaising said.
Tax Connect Advisory Partner Vivek Jalan said businesses are also understanding that robust compliance is the way forward under GST and a significant boost in GST return filing taking the compliance ratio to more than 90% from early 80% shows that Indian businesses are fast moving into the mainstream.
This would enhance the Income Tax revenues also and lead to overall GDP growth, Jalan added.
Goa’s collection at Rs.515 crore
Panaji: Goa’s GST collection jumped 33.3% to `515 crore in the month of March.
For the first time in 2022-23, the tax collection crossed the `500 crore mark. The state’s GST collection was `493 crore in February.
The robust increase in collection is attributed to the continued momentum in tourism footfall.
About 50% of the state’s GST comes from hospitality-related businesses including hotels and other accommodation establishments, night clubs, casinos and restaurants, etc. Comparatively, the manufacturing sector contributes to lower GST.
As such, the second half of the year is usually good for the state for tax collection with December- March being the peak four months of GST revenues.