States want transparency in GST data.
GST collections have crossed ₹1 lakh crore in eleven of the past 12 months, with the government attributing this trend to faster economic recovery and better compliance levels, but economists are unable to analyze these tax numbers as Critical data points are no longer shared. Government.
Till December 2020, when the monthly GST collection was released, the official statement from the finance ministry usually included the number of GSTR 3B returns filed by taxpayers and the state-wise break-up of revenue.
Since then, state-wise revenue trends have been shared for only four out of the eight months – February, March, July and August. The last month for which the government shared the number of GSTR 3B returns filed was January. GSTR 3B return is a summary of the GST liabilities of a firm for each month.
“With the current details available for GST, there cannot be any analysis other than increase or fall in revenue,” said a professor at a leading economic research institute in Delhi. GST now accounts for 65% of the states’ own tax revenue, he pointed out.
The chief economist of a leading rating agency said it is difficult to say how much can be attributed to a healthy GST kitty for better compliance and how much to rising economic activity.
“While incremental economic activity is part of the story, the continuous improvement in compliance levels is a major factor, according to the government. Ideally, we should have compliance information so that trends can be better assessed,” he said, adding that state-wise numbers are also helpful especially amid varying pandemic restrictions.
Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal said that the lack of transparency around the GST data is a matter of concern for the states. “Transparency is also important for the states to know the situation on the ground. If there is no transparent attitude from the Centre, the states will not only lose their rights, but they may also lose financially if they are not able to check the situation,” he said.
In January, when GST collections hit a record high of 1.2 lakh crore, the total GSTR-3B returns stood at 90 lakh, according to the ministry. But that number has not been released since GST revenue touched a new peak of over Rs 1.41 lakh crore in April.
JM Financial Analysts Aishwarya Sonkar, Dhananjay Sinha and Arshad said, “After the sharp jump in January, the government has stopped disclosing compliance levels, but after the increase in the GST tax base by 40%+ in the Finance Minister’s statement 12.8 million has been talked about. Parvez explained in an economics update on GST collections for August released on Wednesday.
On July 1, when the GST regime completed four years, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressed confidence that higher GST collections would be the new normal due to better tax compliance. He said the tax base has nearly doubled from 6.6 million to 12.8 million in four years.