The Goods and Service Tax (GST) collection in May came in at Rs 1.02 lakh crore, official data by the Finance Ministry showed on June 5. While this was the 8th running month of GST collections being above Rs 1 lakh crore, it was also the lowest collection since September 2020. The GST collections in May saw a 27.6 per cent drop from a record sum of Rs 1.41 lakh crore in April, which was the highest monthly collection since the introduction of the nationwide tax.

The gross GST revenue for the month of May, includes a collection of Rs 17,592 crore in form of Central GST, Rs 22,653 crore State GST and Rs 53,199 crore Integrated GST, said a statement. “While the taxpayers with turnover above Rs 5 crore had to file their returns by 4th June, which they would have otherwise filed by 20th May, while taxpayers with turnover less than Rs 5 crore still have time till the first week of July to file the returns without any late fee and interest and the revenue from these taxpayers is postponed till then,” the government said.

Despite a month-on-month drop, the GST revenue collected in May 2021 is 65 per cent higher than the amount collected in the same month last year, which was in the middle of a nationwide lockdown. “During the month, revenues from import of goods were 56 per cent higher and the revenues from the domestic transaction are 69 percent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year,” the Finance Ministry added.