GST taxpayers alert! Input Tax Credit (ITC) clarification from Finance Ministry - Must know for March 2021

Ministry of Finance has issued a statement in which it said that taxpayers are free to utilise Input Tax Credit (ITC) available in their credit ledger as permissible by law to discharge their GST due for March month.

The statement from the Finance Ministry says that unconfirmed reports have appeared in certain sections of the media that some GST officers are using unauthorised communication means such as phone calls, WhatsApp and messages that ask taxpayers to discharge 'maximum tax liability' in 'cash' in order to ensure that targets for revenue collection from GST  for the financial year are met.

Further, giving a clarification on the matter, Ministry of Finance in a PIB release said, "It is to clarify that neither the Government nor the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) have issued any such instructions to their field formations."

The Finance Ministry statement adds, "As such, taxpayers are free to utilise the Input Tax Credit available in their credit ledger, as permissible in law, to discharge their GST dues for the month of March, 2021 – the last month of this financial year."

GST collection Feb 2021

Meanwhile, the gross GST revenue collected in February 2021 increased 7 per cent on a year-on-year basis to over Rs 1.13 lakh crore. Out of the total goods and services tax collection of Rs 1,13,143 crore, CGST was Rs 21,092 crore, SGST was Rs 27,273 crore, IGST was Rs 55,253 crore, including Rs 24,382 crore collected on import of goods and cess was Rs 9,525 crore, including Rs 660 crore collected on import of goods, said an official statement.
The government has settled Rs 22,398 crore to CGST and Rs 17,534 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. In addition, the central government has also settled Rs 48,000 crore as IGST ad-hoc settlement in the ratio of 50:50 between Centre and States or Union Territories.

The total revenue of Centre and the states after regular settlement and ad-hoc settlement in the month of February 2021 is Rs 67,490 crore for CGST and Rs 68,807 crore for the SGST.

The GST revenues crossed Rs 1 lakh fifth time in a row and crossed Rs 1.1 lakh crore third time in a row post pandemic despite this being revenue collection of the month of February. This is a clear indication of the economic recovery and the impact of various measures taken by tax administration to improve compliance, said the Finance Ministry statement.