Central GST collection at Rs 3.26 lakh crore in FY'20: Anurag Singh Thakur

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The Central GST collection so far this fiscal stood at Rs 3.26 lakh crore, which is around half the government's target for 2019-20, Parliament was informed on Monday. "The Budget Estimates for Central Goods and Services Tax (GST) for 2019-20 has been fixed at Rs 6,63,343 crore. The actual net GST collection for the Centre till October 2019 in current fiscal year is Rs 3,26,490 crore," Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He said the shortfall or excess in collection of GST with respect to budget estimate, if any, is calculated after completion of financial year.

The minister was responding to a question on details of the shortfall in GST collections of indirect taxes until October this fiscal against the budgetary projections.

On direct taxes, the minister said that for 2019-20, the budget estimate is Rs 13,35,000 crore.

Between April-October, 2019 the net collection of direct taxes is Rs 5,18,084 crore.

When asked about the details of the revenue loss to the government on account of corporate tax rate reduction, Thakur said:"The likely revenue forgone due to the reduction in corporate tax rates has been estimated to be Rs 1,45,000 crore."

On reasons for not cutting personal income tax rates, the minister said over the past years, the government has provided personal income tax relief to taxpayers taking into account the overall needs of the economy.

In reply to a separate question on the effect of slowdown on tax collection and fiscal deficit, Thakur said the revised estimates of tax collection and fiscal deficit are decided at the time of preparation of the budget estimate for the next year.

"The exercise for preparation of budget estimate for 2020-21 and revised estimates for 2019-20 is underway. At this stage, it may be premature to assess the revised estimate against the budget estimate for 2019-20 with respect to taxes," he said.

The expected central taxes revenue for 2019-20 will be re-assessed and presented as revised estimate in the general budget, 2020-21, the minister said.

The recent initiatives undertaken by the government include basic tax exemption limit enhancement from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh; increase in the limit for claiming deduction under section 80C of the Income Tax Act from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh and standard deduction of Rs 40,000 for salaried taxpayers as well as pensioners. 

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