FESTIVEMONTH GST COLLECTION LOW DUE TO TAX AVOIDANCE BY E- COMMERCE COMPANIES : CAIT

FESTIVE MONTH GST COLLECTION LOW DUE TO TAX AVOIDANCE BY E- COMMERCE COMPANIES : CAIT

 

Vijyender Sharma

SHIMLA-----As per the latest GST collection data released for month of October, 2019 the tax collected was at 95,380 Cr which is 5.5% lower than the same month last year. Despite being the most important month for retail sales in the country due to the festive season, a lower tax collection should not be assumed as a slowdown in the economy.

 

This reduction in GST is a result of a major chunk of offline sales shifting to the E-commerce companies which have recently concluded their most successful ever festive season october sales doing business of over 30,000Cr through their portals. Since these companies by flouting the fdi policy are indulging in deep discounting and predatory pricing policies, they have an expertise in avoiding GST and causing a severe loss of revenue to the Govt. A shortfall of approx 4500 crores in GST as compared to last year would not have happened if Ecomm companies did not indulge in predatory pricing and deep discounting. Infact the GST collection for october festive month should have been higher than last year if Ecommerce Companies would be paying GST as per actual value of goods sold. The CAIT reiterates it earlier position that if the E-commerce companies are made to follow the rules in letter and spirit, both the Online as well as offline retail will flourish and coexist and there will be no loss of GST to the Govt. There is a need for urgent and immediate intervention by the Govt to investigate the working process of these E-commerce companies.