After the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Haryana has widened its tax base by 82.22 per cent.

Disclosing this at a Press conference, Haryana finance minister, Abhimanyu said while the number of tax assesses under Value Added Tax (VAT), Central Excise and Service Tax in Haryana was 2.25 lakh before the introduction of GST, the number of dealers at present is about 4.10 lakh.

This is in spite of the fact that the threshold limit for mandatory registration of tax assesses has been raised from Rs Five lakh in Haryana to Rs 20 lakh under GST, he added.

Referring to the collections, Abhimanyu said GST collected during 2017-18 (for nine months) averaged Rs 1,505.93 crore which increased to Rs 1,804.96 crore during the first three months of 2018-19, implying year-on-year growth of 19.85 per cent.

Under GST, the compliance percentage of assesses filing returns in Haryana had been consistently five to seven per cent higher than the national average. It has been as high as 98.27 per cent, which is a remarkable achievement.

The introduction of One Nation One Tax GST in Haryana has been very smooth with the relatively small state with geographical size 1.8 per cent and 18th in size in the country, collecting the 5th highest gross GST in the country, the minister said.

Haryana’s per capital revenue collection under GST is the highest in the country at Rs.1876, he said.

About 1.12 crore e-way bills were generated in Haryana between April 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018, catapulting the state to the status of 4th highest generator of e-way bills in the country, the minister said.

Officers of the Excise and Taxation Department conducted physical checking of 1.10 lakh e-way bills, detected 3,358 cases of irregularities, and collected Rs. 21.37 crore as penalty in the two months of April and May, 2018.

The minister said during the tenure of the present state government in the three complete financial years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18, the state had displayed robust double-digit growth in revenue collection under commercial taxes with a growth rate of 10.47 per cent, 11.9 per cent and 24.1 per cent during the three years, respectively.

The figures of revenue collection under the GST, Central GST, State GST, including other taxes subsumed later under the GST, are Rs. 21,546.98 crore in 2015-16, Rs. 24,301.61 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 29,941.43 crore in 2017-18.