the goan I network
PANAJI
There is something for the State Government to cheer, as Goa’s Goods and Services Tax (GST)
collections in April 2019 grew at 18.2%, which was much higher than 10% growth in GST collections pan-India.
Ever since the launch of GST in July 2017, the government was struggling to grow its collections. This was because the GST Council had reduced the tax rate on several products and services.
Most notably, GST was reduced on restaurants, which had really affected the tax collections of the government. However, in April 2019, GST collections have shown an impressive 18.2% growth.
Dipak M Bandekar, commissioner, commercial taxes, said, “We collected Rs 203.56 crore GST in April 2019, which was 18.2% more than Rs 172.19 crore GST collected in April 2018. Similarly, we collected Rs 214.81 crore GST in March 2019, which was 14.4% more than Rs 187.84 crore GST collected in March 2018.”
Bandekar attributed the growth in GST collections to data and analytics, which his department has been able to generate in the last few months. The Goan Everyday had earlier reported that Goa had witnessed 28.6% growth in GST collections in February 2019 and 14.7% growth in GST collections in January 2019.
The analytics have helped the government in finding out businessmen, who were evading payment of GST. Using the data, the government can find out cases where businessmen show little or no sales after making a bulk purchase. In such cases, a notice is sent to them to explain the situation.
Similarly, the government spots mismatches by comparing purchases of a businessman with sales of the businessman from whom he had purchased. If there is a discrepancy, a notice is issued.
It is expected that Goa’s GST collections will continue growing in 2019. Post the general elections, the new Central Government is likely to be under lesser pressure to reduce GST rates as well.
