The Meghalaya government has differed with the data of the Ministry of Finance that the GST collections dropped from Rs 239 crore in fiscal 2022-23 to Rs 234 crore during 2023-24.
The Finance Department in a statement today said that the GST collections have grown up from Rs. 1118 crore in 2021-22 to Rs. 1723 crore in 2023-24.
The department stated that the dip in GST collections of the State is only based on one month data (April 2024) of returns filed and doesn’t take into account all the settlements.
“The overall GST collections of the State, including State GST, Integrated GST and Central GST, clearly show an increasing trend. Meghalaya GST collections have registered a growth rate of 35.87%, 32.12% and 16.66% during 2021-22, 22-23 and 23-24 respectively,” the department stated.
It was also reported that Meghalaya was one of the worst performing states in terms of GST collection for August 2024, with the figure for last month being 18 per cent lower than August 2023.
While intensive scrutiny of returns is being carried out to check evasion, the Finance Department said the government is taking up awareness creation activities, especially among the small shopkeepers who procure goods from outside the State, to ensure that the invoices are generated with addresses so that the GST accrues to Meghalaya.
According to the department during the current financial year, 376 cases involving an amount of Rs 121 crore are under scrutiny.
It said that Meghalaya receives its share of GST daily through cash ledger and monthly in the form of Integrated GST and ITC settlement.
“The total GST receipt from April-August, 2024 for Meghalaya is Rs. 772 crore. The receipt for the same period in 2023 was Rs. 737 crore indicating an increase of 5% in the receipts. The growth rate for other States in the North East are – Assam 7%, Arunachal Pradesh -8%, Manipur 11%, Mizoram 1%, Nagaland 0%, Sikkim -16% and Tripura 11%,” the department stated.
According to the government, GST comprises three components, State GST, Central GST and Integrated GST (IGST).
While State GST and Central GST are levied on the transactions within a State, Integrated GST is levied on inter-state transactions.
GST is paid in two modes namely Cash ledger and Credit ledger.
A supplier of goods may pay GST using cash (through banks) via cash ledger. Such payment through cash ledger will be settled to the State on a daily basis.
A supplier may pay the GST liability using credit ledger too, which means the supplier uses the input tax credit available in his/her electronic credit ledger to set off the output tax liability.
The department stated that when a supplier uses a credit ledger for payment, all incoming and outgoing input tax credits for a State will be settled on a monthly basis and the net amount will be credited to the State.
