Himachal's GST collections up 14 pc in August

Shimla: GST collections in Himachal Pradesh during August registered an increase of 14 per cent at Rs 398 crore.
The GST collections in the first five months of the current financial year (April-August) have reached Rs 2,255 crore, against Rs 1,634 collected during the same period last year, the state's Commissioner of State Taxes and Excise said. "The collections have maintained a handsome growth trajectory so far in the current financial year as a result of various policy and administrative measures taken by the Department of State Taxes & Excise to improve taxpayer compliances and strengthen enforcement-related activities," the state's tax authority said in a statement.
Continuous improvement in the filing of returns, speedy scrutiny of returns, timely completion of GST audits and strengthened enforcement continues to be the focus areas for the department so as to achieve the target of 25 per cent cumulative growth in the current financial year 2022-23.
The department has verified 5.6 lakh e-way bills during road checkings conducted in the current financial year and it remains committed to improving voluntary compliance with timebound redressal of the issues of the stakeholders under the 'Tax Haat Programme'.
It has also planned to organize awareness programmes for stakeholders on a big scale this month.
"The departmental continues to focus on capacity building of tax officers in order to strengthen their knowledge base. It has trained more than 400 tax officers in the last six months," the statement said, adding that well-trained tax officers are expected to help the department in achieving the revenue target.
On a national level, the Goods and Services Tax collection for the month of August was recorded at Rs 143,612 crore, which is 28 per cent higher as compared to the same month last year but lower than Rs 148,995 crore collected in July.
India's monthly GST revenue collections have been more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore for six months in a row now.
Pertinent to note that the country's GST revenue collections crossed the Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark for the first time since its inception in 2017 in April this year at Rs 1.68 lakh crore. (ANI)