Total number of entities filing GST returns has seen steady declined in the last four months for which data is available. Between February and May this year, the number of entities filing GST return has declined by almost 8 lakh, which is nearly 10% of the total GST return filed in the country. According to latest official information, the number of entities that are required to file GSTR-3B form is around 1.03 crore while the number of entities that have filed return in May this year is little over 75 lakh. It means nearly one fourth of the businesses that are required to file return under the GST law have not done that.

The government admitted in the Rajya Sabha all the taxpayers admitted under GST were filing returns.

“The government is considering to put in place an extensive plan to hunt for these missing GST payers,” Anurag Thakur, minister of state for finance told the Rajya Sabha in response to a question adding that the measures will include tax officers visiting the concerned premises.

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It’s bit ironical that during the same period the total number of businesses registered under the GST has gone up by 23 lakhs to 1.03 crore while the number of GST return filers (GSTR-3B) declined by over 10%.

While in February this year, almost 84 lakh of the total over 1 crore businesses registered under the GST had filed their returns, the number of filers declined to 82.5 lakh in March.

The same trend of decline in the number of GST filers further declined to 79 lakh business in April this year while in April it further declined to little over 75 lakh.

In February this year, the government’s gross GST collection was Rs 97,247 lakh crore, then it went up to Rs 1,06,577 crore in March and it an all-time high of Rs 1,13,865 crore in April this year before again declining to Rs 1,00,289 crore in May this year.