The Centre as of July 7, 2023 has yet to clear GST compensation worth Rs 11,113 crore to Maharashtra government as on date, announced the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the planning and finance departments, in the state assembly on Thursday. He was speaking at a discussion on the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill 2023. The bill, which aimed to simplify procedure and protect the interest of the taxpayers, was passed by the state assembly.
Pawar said that after the introduction of GST it was mandatory for the Centre to provide compensation to states. The state government received full compensation Rs 8,467 crore in 2018-19, Rs 18,846 crore in 2019-20, Rs 47,475 crore in 2020-21. However, in 2020-21, against the due compensation of Rs 35,929, the state has received Rs 30,008 crore (a shortfall of Rs 5,922 crore) and in 2022-23 the state received only Rs 2,102 crore against the due compensation of Rs 7,293 crore (shortfall of Rs 5,191 crore). ‘’Against the GST’s expected compensation of Rs 1,18,010 crore, the state has so far received Rs 1,06,897 crore for the period 2018-10 to 2022-23. This means the Centre has yet to pay compensation of Rs 11,113 crore (as on July 7, 2023) and the state government is pursuing with the Centre for an early clearance of the outstanding,’’ he added.
Maharashtra has been top among other states for its highest GST collection. The state’s net revenue collection of GST, VAT and Professional Tax (PT) was Rs 1,07,054 crore against the target of Rs 96,534 crore in 2017-18, Rs 1,20,280 crore against Rs 1,29,297 crore in 2018-19, Rs 1,23,013 crore against Rs 1,42,026 crore in 2019-20, Rs 1,06,469 crore against Rs 1,20,000 crore, Rs 1,45,982 crore against Rs 1,64,307 crore, Rs 1,78,024 crore against Rs 1,73,150 crore. Up to June 2023, the GST, VAT and PT collection was Rs 50,291 crore against Rs 48,885 crore. For the 2023-24 fiscal, the state government has set an ambitious target of GST, VAT and PT collection of Rs 1,95,541 crore (considering 5% growth in VAT and 10% in GST and PT).
Meanwhile, Pawar told the state assembly that the Maharashtra Goods, Service Tax (Amendment) Bill 2023 was introduced on the basis of ‘One Country, One Taxation’ formula. After the central government amended the central law, it was mandatory for all the states to make the necessary amendments in the relevant laws.
According to DCM, the amendments were proposed mainly to the sections related to tribunals, data archival policy, simplification of provisions of offences (decriminalization and simplification of compounding of offences), input tax credit, registration and refund.
