Shimla: The state economy has started recovering as it has recorded 49 per cent GST collection in the first two months of the current financial year.
State Taxes and Excise spokesperson informed that the state has collected Rs. 390 crores in the month of May 2022.
The high growth is partly the result of various policy and administrative measures taken by the department to improve taxpayer compliances and strengthen enforcement related activities; a tax department spokesperson claimed.
The spokesperson further added that the second important reason for the growth is GST return related relaxations provided in the first three months of the last financial year. The relaxations provided to mitigate the adverse economic impact of the second wave of COVID-19 had resulted in lesser GST collections during the comparative period in the previous year.
The State Taxes and Excise department is targeting annual growth of around 25 per cent in the current financial year. Continuous improvement in return filing, speedy scrutiny of returns, timely completion of GST audits and strengthened enforcement continue to be focus areas for the department.
The department has targeted to improve upon approximately 2.5 lakh eway bill verifications done in its road checking drive in the previous year. It remains committed to improving voluntary compliance with time-bound redressal of the issues of the stakeholders under the Tax Haat Program.
The State Government has recently approved the establishment of the GST training cell in the department for continuous capacity building of Tax officers. The implementation of the Departmental Restructuring principally approved by the State Cabinet alongside well-trained tax officers are expected to help the department in achieving the revenue target.
