SHILLONG, April 8: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic which has severely affected economic activities, Meghalaya has done well in revenue collection in 2020-21.
Commissioner of Tax, Arunkumar Kembhavi, on Thursday said the state achieved positive revenue growth as tax collections in 2020-21 stood at Rs 1,526.50 crore (provisional, expected to go up) compared to Rs 1,488.37 crore in 2019-20 when GST compensation was not taken into account.
“If GST compensation is considered, then revenue collection in 2020-21 stands at Rs 1,698.87 crore (provisional) compared to Rs 1,589.82 crore in 2019-20, showing growth of 6.86%. GST revenue collection in March this year stood at Rs 101.75 crore compared to Rs 58.55 crore in the same month in 2020, showing phenomenal growth of 73.78%”, Kembhavi said.
He said the achievement was possible due to various reforms in the Taxation department and the extra efforts put in by its officials to improve the percentage of return submission by the taxpayers, disposal of the assessments and the focus on recovery of arrears, especially from bonded warehouses and petrol stations.
According to Kembhavi, the department has also, for the first time, implemented the Tax Amnesty Scheme through the Meghalaya Settlement of Arrears Act, 2020, which got a tremendous response from the tax defaulters with dues for several years.
The department shifted the backend operating system for GST from the NIC, Meghalaya to the system developed by GSTN, New Delhi to further streamline the GST backend procedures.
Kembhavi said the department is optimistic about achieving a double-digit growth in 2021-22 fiscal.