States beat Centre in ensuring GST returns compliance

New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) A Finance Ministry review of compliance behaviour of GST assessees has shown states outperforming the Centre.In a review this month, the Ministry found considerable gap in filing of returns in case of Centre-administered assessees as compared to the states.The conclusion is based on the analysis of returns filed in respect of GSTR1 and Form GSTR 3B.While GSTR-1 is a monthly return that summarises all outward supplies of a taxpayer, the GSTR 3B is summary monthly returns recording filed by the registered dealers."CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs) has asked field officers to ensure no gaps are there in filing of tax returns," said an official.A GST Commissioner said that the Centre had wanted the administration to go soft in the initial phase of the new indirect tax regime. As a result, compliance level by businesses have been impacted."The state tax officers at times blame the central tax administration for poor compliance and low revenue collection," he said.The GST collection has indeed been much below the expectations with September revenue mop-up falling to a 19-months low. It has raised alarm bells in the Revenue Department as lower collection could have serious impact on fiscal deficit of the Centre.The GST collection fell 2.67 per cent to Rs 91,916 crore in September on a year-on-year basis. The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for the month of August up to 30th September, 2019 was 75.94 lakh.Concerned over lower GST collection with some of the states blaming the faulty tax structure for it, the Centre has formed a high-level committee of officers to look into revenue shortfall.The panel which would submit its report in the coming weeks has been tasked to suggest measures to boost GST collections, make businesses comply with GST voluntarily and ways to better administrative coordination.
--IANS nk/sn/vd