GST collections for July stood at Rs 1.65 lakh crore

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July, up 11% year on year, on the back of stable economic growth and improving compliance. The collections crossed the Rs 1.6 lakh crore mark for the fifth time since the inception of the goods and services tax. States across India observe a decent increase compared to the same month last year except Manipur due to ongoing conflicts.

“The steady collections exceeding Rs1.6 Lac Cr over the past few months reflects an increasing awareness across businesses that GST compliance is essential and any non-compliance will get picked up immediately,” MS Mani, Partner, Deloitte India said. The recent measures taken by the government to further plug in tax evasion will only make compliance better. The centre has made E-invoicing mandatory for businesses with a turnover exceeding 5 crore rupees in any of the financial years starting from 2017-18.

This will help to digitise the business transactions. Also the centre has brought GST Network (GSTN) under the ambit of Prevention of Money Laundering Act and from October 1, GSTN will go live on account aggregator. “The GST collection can be expected to be in a positive space with the said change combined with the data intelligence and other similar measures,” Saurabh Agarwal, Tax Partner, EY LLP said.

For instance the information sharing by FIU with GSTN is likely to further empower the GST authorities to initiate new investigations based on the leads and information received from FIU, Agarwal added. The upcoming festive season will further add to the collections. “With approaching normal period of limitation for FY 17-18 and approaching festive season, this cheer is expected to only increase,” Abhishek Jain, Partner & National Head — Indirect Tax, KPMG