Committee To Look Into GST Revenue Shortfall

New Delhi, October 11: A few days back, Goods & Services Tax (GST) collection dipped to a 19-month low at Rs 91916 crore, the lowest after February 2018. However, the government has set a target of collecting over Rs1 lakh crore every month during the current fiscal. Now in order to bridge this gap, the GST Council Secretariat has announced setting up of a committee to augment collections and improve administration. The panel has been asked to submit the report within 15 days.

"The committee of officers from the centre and the states is required to suggest steps to be taken to improve revenue," GST Council Secretariat notified on Thursday.

The 12-member panel will have five people from the states and five from the Centre beside joint secretary of GST Council and executive vice president of GST Network (GSTN). Officers from the Centre will include joint secretary (Revenue), principal commissioner (GST PW), joint secretary (Tax Research Unit), additional director general (ARM) and additional director general (Systems). SGST (State Goods & Services Tax) commissioner from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab will represent the states. As per the order issued by GST Council Secretariat, any other state could also join the committee on a voluntary basis.

The committee will look into issues such as systematic changes in GST to prevent misuse, measures for expansion of tax base, improved compliance monitoring and anti-evasion measures using better data analytics and better administrative coordination.

It will not only look into revenue shortfall but will also suggest measures to improve voluntary compliance, policy measures and relevant changes in the law.

"Any other states which would like to join the committee may volunteer by writing to the GST Council Secretariat," GST Council stated

“The committee should consider a wide range of reforms so that a comprehensive list of suggestions may emerge,” the order said.

One of the terms of reference is for the committee to suggest measures to improve voluntary compliance. The mandate of the committee is also to suggest measures to expand the tax base and to improve compliance monitoring and anti-evasion measures using better data analytics. 

Many experts are of the opinion that the economic slowdown is the reason for steeply falling GST collections. The lower collections are mainly due to lower gross domestic product (GDP) growth numbers seen recently, which fell from 5.8 per cent to 5 per cent, which is the six-year low.