GST revenue of Rs 130127 crore collected In October 2021

In the month of October 2021, the gross GST revenue collected is Rs 1,30,127 crore, of which CGST is Rs 23,861 crore, SGST is Rs 30,421 crore, IGST is Rs 67,361 crore (including Rs 32,998 crore collected on import of goods), and Cess is Rs 8,484 crore (including Rs 699 crore collected on import of goods).

As part of the regular settlement, the government transferred Rs 27,310 crore from IGST to CGST and Rs 22,394 crore to SGST. After regular settlements, the total revenue of the Centre and the States in the month of October 2021 is Rs 51171 crore for CGST and Rs 52,815 crore for SGST.

The revenues for the month of October 2021 are 24% higher than the GST revenues for the same month last year and 36% higher than the revenues for 2019-20. Revenues from imports of goods were 39 percent higher during the month, and revenues from domestic transactions (including imports of services) were 19 percent higher than in the same month last year.

The GST revenues for October were the second highest ever since the implementation of GST, trailing only those for April 2021, which related to year-end revenues. This is consistent with the general trend of economic recovery. This is also evident in the monthly trend of e-way bills generated since the second wave. Revenues would have been higher if car and other product sales had not been affected by the disruption in supply of semi-conductors. The upward trend in the number of e-way bills generated during the month and the amount of taxable value shown in Chart 1 clearly indicates the recovery in economic activity.

Revenues have also benefited from the efforts of the state and central tax administrations, which have resulted in increased compliance compared to previous months. This has resulted from the GST Council’s multipronged approach, in addition to action against individual tax evaders.

On the one hand, various measures have been implemented to make compliance easier, such as nil filing via SMS, enabling the Quarterly Return Monthly Payment (QRMP) system, and auto-population of returns. GSTN has significantly increased system capacity over the last year in order to improve user experience. On the other hand, the Council has taken a number of steps to discourage non-compliance, such as blocking e-way bills for non-filing of returns, system-based suspension of registration of taxpayers who have failed to file six returns in a row, and credit blocking for return defaulters.

The number of returns (GSTR-3B) filed for each month/quarter by the end of the next month is a good indicator of timely payment and filing of returns. Following the last date for filing returns, special efforts are made to ensure compliance by the end of the month, including messaging from GSTN and close monitoring by the Centre and State tax administrations. Chart 2 shows an upward trend in the percentage of returns filed until the end of the next month, indicating that timely payment of taxes has increased over time as a result of policy measures and administrative efforts.

This has also been aided by the fact that, on several occasions, Council decided to waive late fees, allowing people to file old returns and catch up on filing. With an increasing number of taxpayers filing returns each month, the percentage of old period returns filed in any month has been steadily increasing. Chart 3 depicts the percentage of current-period returns filed in each month as a percentage of total returns filed, clearly indicating that the number of current-period returns has increased significantly. In the month of July 2021, 1.5 crore returns were filed as taxpayers filed returns from previous months to take advantage of the Covid relaxation.

With the improvement of return filing, the GST Council’s focus has been on timely filing of GSTR-1, the statement containing invoice details. This statement is critical for maintaining discipline when claiming input tax credits. Several steps have been taken to ensure that GSTR-1 is filed on time. Chart 4 depicting GSTR-1 filing by the end of the month demonstrates that these steps resulted in the desired outcome, as the percentage of GSTR-1 filed by the end of the month is clearly showing an upward trend.

Overall, the impact of these efforts has resulted in increased compliance and revenue growth. More steps to restrict fake ITC are being considered by the GST Council as part of overall efforts to combat evasion. The chart below depicts the trend in monthly GST revenues over the course of the year, and the table below depicts the breakdown of GST revenues by state (excluding GST on import of goods). There is a slight difference between the monthly figures shown in the chart below for the months of May and June and those included in the respective press notes because the figures published then were for the 5th of the following month because taxpayers were given relief in filing returns until the 5th of the following month due to the pandemic.