More than 36 lakh businesses have submitted their returns so far under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime for the month of July, reported a national news agency quoting a top tax official. August 25 was the last day for filing the returns.

Tax collected in the maiden filings under the GST regime, which kicked in on July 1, is still being compiled as the last date for filings under different rules was extended. The revenue department has estimated a collection of around Rs 65,000 crore from maiden GST.

GST has consolidated an array of local and central levies including central taxes, excise duty, service tax and value added tax (VAT) into a single levy.

Under GST, businesses are supposed to file monthly sales returns and pay due taxes online. However, businesses that availed transitional credit were allowed to file returns till August 28 after paying taxes on self-assessment basis by August 25.

Since this was the maiden return, the government gave companies extra time to file returns and pay taxes. The government expects GST tax collection to be available seamlessly from October once the initial hiccups in the return-filing are sorted out.

Source: IIFL