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Informist, Tuesday, Sep 24, 2024

 

--CBIC member: Found 27% GST registrations non-existent in GST drive 
--CONTEXT: CBIC Member Shashank Priya speaking at an ASSOCHAM event 
--CBIC member: Detected evasion of 101.79 bln rupees in GST drive 
--CBIC member: More doable to bring natural gas under GST than petrol 
--CBIC member:Aware data mismatches leading to many showcause notices 

--CBIC member: Expect GST appellate tribunals to be functional by Nov

 

NEW DELHI - The government has detected goods and services tax evasion of 101.79 bln rupees in the ongoing drive against fake GST registrations, Shashank Priya, member, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, said today. The finance ministry has already blocked input tax credit of 29.94 bln rupees, and has recovered 280 mln rupees from tax evasion in the ongoing drive, which began on Aug 16, he said.

 

The special two-month drive was launched to weed out fake GST registrations to prevent revenue loss to the government. This is the second such drive to identify fake and suspicious registrations under the GST regime.

 

The first drive was launched on May 16, 2023 for two months but was extended for another month till Aug 14. In the last drive between May and August 2023, the government had found that 29,273 bogus companies were involved in input tax credit evasion of 440.15 bln rupees.

 

The government has identified 67,970 GST identification numbers in the current drive as of Sunday, of which 27% were found to be non-existent, the CBIC member said. Around 59%,or 39,965, of GST identification numbers have been verified, Priya said while speaking at an event organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India.

 

The CBIC member said the government is aware that data mismatches are leading to many show-cause notices being sent. He said the government had issued 112,852 show cause notices in 2023-24 (Apr-Mar), of which only 555 pertained to classification disputes.  

 

"Policy level disputes are much less, and more disputes are related to data verification," Priya said, adding that if the government can address data mismatches by use of technology, then "we will be able to solve a lot of disputes and pain points of taxpayers".

 

The government also recognises that certain provisions in law, along with some aspects of tax administration, need to be improved to reduce the pain points for taxpayers, the CBIC member said. 

 

The government is already using more technology to filter out fake GST registrations and suspicious applicants, he said. CBIC had last year introduced a pilot project using geotagging and Aadhar-based verification of businesses in Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Gujarat. 

 

After the pilot, the Aadhar-based verification system has been extended to 12 states now, and four more states will join by Oct 4, Priya said. The government will extend this verification system to the rest of the states in phases, he said. The government is also looking to launch a pilot of the GST Invoice Management System from October, the CBIC member said. 

 

Talking about GST rate rationalisation, Priya said that bringing natural gas under the ambit of GST looks more doable than including petrol and diesel.  

 

Priya also said GST appellate tribunals are likely to be functional by November, and the government is interacting with candidates for appointments in the tribunals. Informist had reported in August, citing a senior finance ministry official, that GST Appellate Tribunals are likely to be operational from October or November.  End

 

Reported by Shubham Rana

Edited by Vidhi Verma

 

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