New Delhi, Jan 25 (PTI) Halting two months of decline, the GST collections gathered momentum in December, rising to ₹ 86,703 crore.

"Total revenue Collections under GST for the month of December 2017 (received in December 2017/January up to January 24, 2018) has been ₹ 86,703 crores till January 24 2018," the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.

Total collections under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in November had slipped for the second straight month to ₹ 80,808 crore, from over ₹ 83,000 crore in October. In September, it was over ₹ 92,150 crore

The ministry further said that one crore taxpayers have been registered under GST till January 24, of which 17.11 lakh are composition dealers who are required to file returns every quarter.

As many as 56.30 lakh GSTR 3B returns have been filed for December, it said.

For the composition dealers, for the July-September quarter, the last date of filing GSTR 4 Return was December 24, it said. A total of 8.10 lakh returns were filed by them amounting to ₹ 335.86 crore.

For the October-December quarter, the last date for filing GSTR 4 return was January 18, and a total of 9.25 lakh returns were filed by composition dealers paying a sum of ₹ 421.35 crore, it added.

GST collections rise, signalling improved monthly tax receipts and continued compliance via quarterly and monthly return filings. A reversal in short-term revenue decline under the Goods and Services Tax regime occurred in December 2017, with monthly collections rising relative to the prior two months. The statement also summarises compliance activity: roughly one crore registrations, a large number of composition dealers obliged to file quarterly returns, substantial GSTR-3B filings for December, and GSTR-4 filings by composition dealers for relevant quarters by their statutory deadlines.