Taxpayer base likely to reach 90 lakh, says GSTN Chairman

The taxpayer base seems to have expanded significantly under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the GST Network expects the total registrations for the new tax to touch at least 90 lakh in the coming months.

“We will cross 80 lakh within the next two-three days. We don’t know how many taxpayers will come in, but at least another 10 lakh are likely,” said Navin Kumar, Chairman, GSTN, adding that the system is ready for more registrations.

The government had initially projected a total of 70-80 lakh taxpayers to migrate and enrol for the new levy.

“Our expectation based on a study we had got done was that the taxpayer base will expand by five per cent annually, meaning 4 lakh new registrations every year,” he told BusinessLine .

Kumar said the total registrations have already touched 78 lakh. Since the registration window was re-opened last month, total enrolments have averaged between 10,000 and 15,000 every day while another 40,000 existing taxpayers have migrated daily.

The GSTN expects that at least another 800 taxpayers will be registered as suppliers for e-commerce firms, once the window opens next week.

Expressing satisfaction over the surge in taxpayers under GST, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said earlier this week that the estimate of 80 lakh will be breached. The government has been confident that this will also yield more revenue but has not made any projection for GST collections till now.

Experts point out that the expansion of the taxpayer base is partly because GST now covers almost all goods and services with few exemptions. Further, with provisions to maintain the input tax credit and compliance rating of sellers, it also encourages more compliance. The number of taxpayers is likely to rise even further.

“We expect that eventually at least 2 crore businesses will be registered under GST,” said Sudhir Singh, Managing Director, Marg ERP. According to experts, over the past few days, many businesses that were not paying taxes previously have realised the benefits of enrolling for GST. If an item is taxable, there is little scope for the seller to remain outside the GST net, they point out.

More services on GSTN Meanwhile, the GSTN is also set to launch the invoice uploading facility later this month, Kumar said adding that businesses will be encouraged to do real time or atleast regular upload of invoices on the portal.

The GSTN will also make services for amending registrations, registration by non-resident foreign taxpayers and registration of casual taxpayer available by next week.

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