Panel set up to boost GST revenue after sharp collection dip

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SME Times News Bureau | 10 Oct, 2019
The GST Council on Thursday constituted a committee of officers to improve revenue after the September Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection dropped sharply to a 19-month low of Rs 91,916 crore, reflecting weak consumer demand.

The second straight month of decline in the GST collections came amid a massive slowdown in the economy, visible in six year low GDP growth numbers for the April-June quarter.

"The committee shall submit its first report within 15 days to the GST Council Secretariat which shall coordinate the meeting of the committee to ensure finalisation of the inception report..," the Council office memo said.

GST Council, in a memorandum, said that that it has been decided that that a committee of officers from state as well as the Centre is "required to suggest steps to be taken to improve revenue collection".

The Council expects the newly formed committee to look into "policy measures and changes in the law", measures to "improve voluntary compliance and improved compliance monitoring and anti-evasion measures" among others. The aim is to move to GST 2.0 and leapfrog tax reform to its second phase by bringing electricity, oil & gas, real estate and alcohol under its ambit and converging the rate structure into 2-3 slabs.

The members of the committee, as stated, were the Commissioners, SGST of Maharastra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab.The members from the Centre would include: Principal Commissioner, GST PW, Joint Secretary (TRU 1 and 2), ADG (ARM and Systems) and Joint Secretary, Revenue.

Besides, the Joint Secretary, GST Council Secretariat and Executive VP, GSTN will also be the part of the committee.