For the month of April 2021, the Goods and Service Tax (GST) collection was at a record high of Rs 1,41,384 crore. Of this, CGST is Rs 27,837 crore, SGST Rs 35,621, IGST Rs 68,481 crore (including Rs. 29,599 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 9,445 crore (including Rs. 981 crore collected on import of goods).
However, there are Twitter users some of them chartered accounts (as per their accounts) claim that the rise in GST can be due to several reasons. But one main reason for this rise could be the blocking of Input Tax Credit (ITC).
Actually, the reference 2B in the tweet is about the form GSTR-2B which is an auto-generated ITC statement, it will be generated for every recipient as per the data filled by the suppliers in their respective form. This form will help the tax payer know if the input tax credit is available or not. In the tweet, R1 means GST R1 which contains the details of all sales.
Yet another professional tried to explain that the insufficient time given to file during the COVID-19 pandemic is another reason for the same. Some even requested for extension of due date.
One professional further explained, when people are struggling to save lives will they be worried about business or focus on lives. He invoked the need to use common sense.
There are some others suggesting that the rising GST could also be attributed to GST levied on critical medical supplies required to tackle the pandemic. And not to forget the interest and late fees paid due to non-extension of due dates during pandemic. The GST collection had crossed Rs 1.24 lakh crore in March 2021. Now, it crossed over Rs 1.41 lakh crore.
There are other professionals who congratulated the government for GST collections. Some see this steady rise in GST as an indication of the growth of Indian economy, more formalisation and increased compliances.
