Despite Covid restrictions, GST collection goes up in Punjab

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 1

Despite the second wave of Covid-19 and strict lockdown restrictions, the business community of Punjab has shown resilience by not only complying with the return filing requirements but also paying their GST dues in a timely manner in June 2021. Resultantly, the GST revenue collected during the month stood at Rs 1,087 crore which was Rs 869.66 crore in June last year.

A spokesperson of the Taxation Department said the GST revenue during June 2021 remained 25.06 per cent higher than the revenue receipts corresponding to June 2020. Likewise, the GST revenue up to June 2021 (quarter-1 of 2021-22) is 123.48 per cent higher than the corresponding period in the previous year.

Implementation of measures like QRMP to ease the compliance burden of taxpayers, closer monitoring of bogus billing, rigorous enforcement, advanced data analytics using data from multiple sources and effective tax administration had also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue, said the spokesperson.

The VAT and CST revenue during June 2021 stood at Rs 699.27 crore and Rs 20.96 crore, respectively, thus registering an increase of 42.37 per cent and 104.90 per cent, respectively, than the collection made in the month of June 2020. The VAT and CST revenue up to June 2021 (Q-1 of 2021-22) is 106.73 per cent and 178.56 per cent higher than the corresponding period of the previous year, respectively.

Notably, the GST compensation pending with Government of India in respect of Punjab up to June 30, 2021, has risen to Rs 8,495 crore.