COVID effect: Rohtak records 67 per cent fall in GST collection

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, June 4

The lockdown has taken a toll on the collection of the Good and Service Tax (GST) with the district witnessing more than 67 per cent fall in tax collection in April as compared to the previous year.

The district has a total of 14,450 dealers registered under the GST Act, of which merely 3,537 have filed their monthly return in April.

Interestingly, only 2,257 among them have not paid any tax that is levied on the supply of goods and services.

As per official information, the district had received a total Rs 45.52 crore as GST in April 2019, while the figure is Rs 14.94 crore in April 2020, describing a sharp dip in the tax collection of Rs 30.58 crore as compared to the previous year.

“The considerable dip in the revenue collection in April is the fallout of closure of business activities due to lockdown and the relaxation given to the GST taxpayers in the filing of monthly GSTR3B return till June 30 for the month of February, March and April this year. In Rohtak, 80 per cent of total GST collection comes from 390 top taxpayers and of which, 228 taxpayers have not yet filed the return,” said SK Bodwal, Deputy Commissioner of State Tax, Rohtak.

He maintained the filing of return is mandatory for each registered dealer every month hence taxpayers are requested to file the return and pay the GST.

“Since the government is passing through a financial crisis hence the revenue collection will help it come out of the situation. The customers should get the bill for every purchase to ensure levying of the GST,” Bodwal added.

Vijay Gupta, acting president, Haryana Vyapar Mandal, said COVID-19 situations had adversely affected the business not only in Haryana but also across the nation hence a majority of the GST payers would file the return up to June 30. That was the reason behind the sharp dip in the revenue collection in April, he added.