In the light of falling Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues, the GST Council Secretariat on Thursday set up a committee of Central and State tax officers to look into a “wide range of reforms” to boost revenue collection.
The focus will be on improving compliance and clamping down on misuse.
“With the approval of the competent authority, it has been decided that a committee of officers be constituted to suggest measures to augment GST revenue,” the GST Council Secretariat, the administrative body behind the GST Council, said in a notification.
“The committee of the… officers from the Centre and the States is required to suggest steps to be taken to improve revenue collection,” the notification said.
The committee is to submit its first report within 15 days of the notification.
“The committee should consider a wide range of reforms so that a comprehensive list of suggestions may emerge,” the notification added.
The committee is to look into, but not be limited to, systemic changes in GST, including checks and balances to prevent misuse, measures to improve voluntary compliance, policy measures and relevant changes needed in the law, measures to expand the tax base, measures to improve compliance monitoring and anti-evasion measures based on data analytics, and better administrative coordination.
The creation of the committee comes in the backdrop of GST revenue in September falling for the second consecutive month to a 19-month low of ₹91,916 crore, lower even than the very first full month of GST.
While analysts have said that a large part of the dipping collections is due to subdued demand in the economy, they also say that the government needs to bolster its compliance mechanisms to make sure all those eligible and required to pay GST do so.
