GST collection data not released in April, government will wait till the extended period of filing returns

New Delhi The government did not release the data related to the collection of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April on Friday. The government has postponed it for the time being. Sources said that GST collection in April has come down considerably due to the applicable lockdown and nationwide filing deadline for filing GST returns.

In March, the government announced an additional 15 days for filing GST returns for businesses with a turnover of more than Rs 5 crore. The GST return for March transactions could be filed by 20 April. The government extended its deadline to May 5. This means that traders are not required to pay any late fee, interest or penalty till May 5. However, on filing returns from May 5 to June 30, traders will have to pay interest at a discounted rate of nine percent.

As per the tradition till now, the government releases data related to GST collection on the basis of cash collected in a given month. A source said that under the circumstances arising out of Kovid-19, the government has decided to wait for the extended deadline before releasing the collection figures.

Sources said that it has been decided to postpone the April GST collection figures due to ‘unprecedented circumstances’ arising out of coronavirus. No date has been set for the release of this figure.
According to the source, the government expects more returns to be filed by May 5. He said that a decision has to be taken to extend this deadline. Talking about the financial year 2019-20, in seven months in 12 months, the GST collection figure went up to Rs 1 lakh crore. In March this year, the government earned Rs 97,597 crore from GST.

According to another source, low tax collection in April may also be the reason for postponing the release date.