The goods and services tax (GST) collection fell to Rs 1.41 lakh crore in May, down 16 per cent from April’s all-time high of Rs 1.68 lakh crore. Analysts said a rush to square up books at the end of the fiscal year usually leads to higher collections in April and March.

The end of the year is also the time entities fulfil their compliances for the whole year even as the taxmen expedite their recoveries.

Naresh Sheth, partner, N.A. Shah Associates, said, “There is a normal tendency of taxpayers to reconcile their GST returns and books of account at year-end and declare the differential tax liabilities in the month of March for which tax is paid in April.”

“Even the GST department tightens and expedites the recovery proceedings at year- end resulting in higher tax collections during the months of March and April,” he said.

M.S. Mani, partner, Deloitte India, said “the reduction in collections compared with the previous months was expected as the collections for March, being the last month of the fiscal year, have always been more than the other months of the year”.

The revenues for May are 44 per cent higher than the collections a year ago — though this was a result of a low base effect on account of the Covid wave.

The gross GST revenue collected in May is Rs 1.41 lakh crore — of which Central GST is Rs 25,036 crore, state GST Rs 32,001 crore and integrated GST Rs 73,345 crore that includes the Rs 37,469 crore collected on the import of goods.

Cess collections in May stood at Rs 10,502 crore, including Rs 931 crore collected from imports.

“It is hoped that consistent record-breaking collections sets a new expected average and sets a positive tone, as the GST Council deliberates rate rejigs and continues to seek to address pro revenue interpretations by way of clarifications,” Mahesh Jaising, partner & leader — indirect tax, Deloitte India, said.

Aditi Nayar, chief economist, ICRA, said “the May 2022 GST collections are robust compared with the Q4 FY2022 trends, benefitting from improved compliance, market share gains by the organised sector as well as the transmission of higher commodity prices into output prices”.

“Given the trends for April-May 2022, and the anticipation of a sustained healthy momentum of activity in absence of another wave of Covid and major disruptions, we expect the CGST inflows in FY2023 to exceed the BE (budget estimate) level by Rs. 1.15 lakh crore.”

This is the fourth time that the monthly GST collection has crossed Rs 1.40 lakh crore mark since the inception of GST and the third straight month since March 2022.

The total number of e-way bills generated in the month of April 2022 was 7.4 crore, which is 4 per cent less than 7.7 crore e-way bills generated in the month of March 2022.