Impact of COVID 19 on GST collection

The spread of COVID-19 appears to be slowing in India, but the pandemic’s economic impact is still being determined as new waves of COVID-19 infection emerge locally. As a result, any revenue impact of covid-19 on GST collection in India will have certain flaws and limitations. However, now that GDP data for the previous two quarters are available, and GST shows the most promising signs of recovery among all revenue streams, a recent study by NIPFP forecasts GST revenue.

GST trends

The OECD is concentrating on how tax policy can assist governments in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines various policies and their implementation to address various stages of the crisis. The immediate response measures required to manage the emergency and mitigation phases of the crisis have received a lot of attention from tax authorities, governments, and policymakers so far. In some parts of the world, the focus is gradually shifting to measures to promote recovery. These developments may provide the impetus for governments to take politically difficult steps toward positive GST reform, simplification, and improvement.

Is GST collection increasing?

Experts say that a rise in commodity prices is helping the exchequer by increasing government revenue from the goods and services tax (GST). In recent months, GST collections have reached new highs due to pent-up demand and rising commodity prices. One obvious explanation for the increase in GST collection could be the economy’s recovery as lockdown rules were relaxed and daily cases began to decline. Since monthly GST collections have been increasing year over year, indicating a recovery in the economy.

How much has GST been collected?

September month’s goods and services tax collections totalled Rs 1.17 lakh crore, the third month in a row with revenue exceeding Rs 1 lakh crore since June. GST revenues in September 2021 are 23% significantly greater than GST revenues in the same month last year. The current average gross GST collection for the current fiscal year’s second quarter was Rs 1.15 lakh crore, a 5% increase over the first quarter’s average monthly collection of Rs 1.10 lakh crore. GST collection month-wise chart 2020-21 will depict the overall collected revenue amount.

Gross GST collection in crore

Why is GST collection increasing?

GST revenue collections had been contracting since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. And this is now at a lower level than the previous year. Following the country’s lockdown in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, GST revenue collections remained in negative territory for the first five months of this fiscal year, with a record low of Rs 32,172 crore in April. Since September, the latest GST collection revenues have begun to rise as the economy has opened up and economic activities have resumed. GST revenue collections increased year over year for the fourth month in a row in December. A low base effect contributes to the increase in percentage terms.

Higher festive season sales on account of Diwali in November and the rollout of new technological systems for e-invoicing and action against tax evaders are boosting the GST collections. According to tax experts, the government should provide a breakdown of the GST revenues collected through return filing and recovery efforts by the GST authorities to determine the true extent of economic recovery.

Final thoughts

The goods and services tax is a real worth tax imposed on the amount of value-added at each stage of the supply of goods and services. It aims to eliminate inefficiencies in the tax system that results in tax on tax, also known as tax cascading. GST is a destination-based consumption tax, meaning that the state’s share of interstate commerce taxes goes to the state where the final consumer lives rather than the exporting state. Thus, the central and state GST components are equal.