India: GST collections for Feb 20 stand at INR1.05tr, fall short of target

• Goods and services tax collections for Feb 20 stood at INR1.05tr, falling short of the INR1.15tr target set by the government but grossing 8% more than the revenue collection for Feb 19.
• It was the fourth consecutive month when GST collections crossed INR1tr. Of the total INR1,054bn, the central GST stood at INR206bn, state GST at INR274bn and integrated GST at INR485bn, which included INR207bn collected on imports, the revenue department said in a statement on.
• The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has been on a war footing to augment collections by reducing input tax credit (ITC) fraud. Field formations of GST authorities have been asked to focus on identifying fraudulent ITC claims while weeding out miscreants that may use fake invoices or inflated or fake e-way bills.
• Experts said the consecutive collections of INR1tr was an encouraging sign for the economy, and expected collections to stabilise at this level going forward.
• “The GST collections continuing at above the INR1tr-mark is quite an encouraging situation for the Indian economy,” said Abhishek Jain, tax partner at EY.
• “One possible significant reason linked to reasonable collections is the differential liabilities discharged by businesses in reference to the observations in GST annual returns and audit for 2017-18; which was due in Jan 20,” he said.

External Link : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/february-gst-collection-crosses-rs-1-lakh-crore-mark-for-the-fourth-consecutive-month/articleshow/74427983.cms