Mumbai, (The Hindu): The Mangaluru circle, comprising Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts, has been a largely tax-compliant region and a revenue of Rs. 15,941 crore was collected as Central Excise and Central Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017-18, said M. Subramanyam, Commissioner of Central Excise and Central Excise, Manglauru, on Sunday.

Speaking a a ‘GST Day programme, organised to mark one year of the GST regime in the country, he said there has not been any issue with GST compliance with assessees in the region, whose number has increased from 11,295 to 12,943. The amount of GST collected in 2017-18, since its implementation in the second quarter of the financial year, was the same as the taxes collected in 2016-17, he said.

Mr. Subramanyam said that for about eight months since GST came into effect, officials were involved in outreach programmes for trade bodies and other assessees and addressing issues related to filing of GST. “It is only in the past two months we started looking at transitional compliances.” The Commissionerate was successful in detecting Rs.40 crore of GST evasion in the past two months.

Mr. Subramanyam said the Commissionerate was focusing on refunds to ensure that assessees, more so the exporters, do not face financial constraints. “Refund is directly going to the accounts of the assessees. There are some issues, namely mismatch of invoice numbers, which are being resolved,” he said.

M. Venkatesh, MD of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd., one of the largest taxpayers in the region, said that with good leadership in the State and the Centre, it was a smooth transition to the new tax system. “With GST, you will see more people pay taxes,” he said.