India GST blockers lead to 14% tax drop

Following the introduction of Goods and Services Tax in India on 1 July 2017, the government is still delayed in being able to capitalise on the new audit features of the tax.

Since the launch of the tax replacing VAT, Service Tax and many other consumption taxes, tax revenues have started to fall off. Monthly revenues have fallen from 94 RS Crore in August to 81 RS Crore – a 14% drop in just four months.

Due to technical delays on the GST Network, the platform which reconciles sales and purchase invoice GST, the basic GSTR-1 returns forms are still not being completed. These provide the opportunity for all tax payers to demonstrate that they are compliant, charging the correct GST and remitting it to the government.

It is hoped that the new 10th January deadline for the GSTR-1 will stick this time after many extensions. Only once this is achieved, will the tax authorities be able to audit corresponding sales and purchases.

Aside from fully completed returns, the introduction of mandatory e-way bills in February should give much improved on the movement and GST liability of goods crossing state lines.  There are 29 states in India.  This will include logging online movements above RS50,000 in value for checking tax authorities in the destination state and detect non-declared cash transactions at any point.

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