GST collections dip in October to Rs 83,346 cr; 95.9 lakh taxpayers registered

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in the month of October has slipped to Rs 83,346 crore, from over Rs 92,000 crore last month, as taxes on most commodities have come down.

The total collection of GST till November 27 is Rs 83,346 crore for October, and 50.1 lakh returns have been filed for the month, a finance ministry statement said.

The statement said that the Centre has released a compensation of Rs 10,806 crore to states for July and August. A compensation of Rs 13,695 crore for September and October is being released, it added.

"The states' revenues have been fully protected taking base year revenue as 2015-16 and providing a projected revenue growth rate of 14 per cent," the ministry said.

As per data available, GST collections in the maiden month of July was over Rs 95,000 crore while in August, the figure was over Rs 91,000 crore. In September, it was over Rs 92,150 crore. October is the fourth month of GST rollout.

Explaining the downward trend in tax revenue under GST, the statement said that initially Integrated GST was paid on transfer of goods from one state to another.

"As and when the final transaction of these goods takes place, the credit for IGST is being utilised for payment of SGST and CGST and therefore, the inflow of new taxes is low," it explained.

"Also, since the overall incidence of taxes on most of the commodities has come down under GST, it would naturally have some implication on the revenues of the government," the Finance Ministry statement said.

The Ministry said that 95.9 lakh taxpayers have been registered under GST so far, of which 15.1 lakh are composition dealers which are required to file returns every quarter.

For the month of October till November 2017, somewhat 50.1 lakh taxpayers have filed their returns.

Total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for the return period July, August, September and October 2017 till 26th November is 58.7 lakh, 58.9 lakh,  57.3 lakh and 50.1 lakh respectively.