The Government has launched an eradication program in order to prevent tax evasion under the new tax regime, the Goods and Service Tax ( GST )introduced on 1st July onwards.
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence, the apex intelligence unit under the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), has, in an all-India operation that began on Tuesday based on the investigation report that the tax evasion around Rs 440 crore has been detected.
The nature of evasion includes non-payment of tax, the wrongful claim of tax rebates and failure to remit to the government taxes collected from customers.
Reportedly, most of the business entities, especially in iron, steel, coal, automobile dealership and retail, were found to have collected GST but not passed it on to the government leading to a fall in tax collections.
The investigation report shows that medium-sized firms are the majority in the list of tax evaders.
The operation is considered to be the historical movement of the authority to detect tax evasion under the new indirect tax regime.
Reportedly the tax evasion of over Rs.100 crores was detected in the city of Chennai alone.
The tax evaders are using innovative techniques to avoid their tax liabilities such as undervalue transactions, improper return filing etc. in order to overcome this, the Government is trying to include innovative and effective techniques in the eradication program to make it successful.
One of the major reasons for falling GST Revenue is tax evasion. During the transition period of GST, the country witnessed the highest tax evasion in the history.
Earlier, while addressing a State-level Seminar on Goods and Services Taxes (GST), the Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said that the Government is taking all possible efforts to make the GST system “full proof” with the help of technology to check all possibilities of tax evasion.
