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Since GST rollout in July 2017, Rs 45,682.83 crore fraud detected

July 17, 2019 admin Comments 0 Comment

A total of 9385 cases of tax fraud involving amount of Rs 45,682.83 crore has been detected by the tax authorities under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime since its rollout from July 1, 2017, government data showed. Out of this, 1,593 tax fraud cases involving an amount of Rs 6520.40 crore have been detected in April-June, the first three months of this financial year.

In a response to a question regarding tax frauds under GST, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said tax fraud worth Rs 37,946.41 crore was detected in 7368 cases in 2018-19.

Also, in 2018-19, Rs 11,251 crore worth of cases of tax credit availment by issue of fake invoices were detected by the tax authorities and Rs 2,805 crore in April-June of the current fiscal, Thakur said in his written reply.

Just five cases of tax credit availment by fake invoicing were detected by Central GST formations in the first year of the GST implementation (July 2017 to March 2018) involving an amount of Rs 12.67 crore and two persons were arrested.

The government said it has taken various measures to curtail these types of fraud. “Field formation(s) of CBIC, are sensitized to keep check on these kinds of activities and take necessary action.

A specialised Directorate within the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) engaged in Data Analytics & Risk Management disseminates analytical reports and intelligence inputs to field formations of CBIC for the purpose of scrutiny, audit and enforcement, to check GST evasion in general and fraudulent credit availment in particular,” Thakur said in his reply.

In 2018-19, 1,620 cases of fake invoicing were detected involving Rs 11,251.23 crore, and 154 persons were arrested. Between April-June of 2019-20, 666 cases of fake invoicing were detected and the amount involved stood at Rs 2,804.98 crore. A total of 41 persons were arrested.

To a query on tax fraud cases after the GST rollout, Thakur said 424 cases involving Rs 1,216 crore were detected between July-March period of 2017-18. Another 7,368 cases involving Rs 37,946.41 crore were detected in 2018-19 and 1,593 cases of Rs 6,520.40 crore were detected in April-June of 2019-20.

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Source: Indian-Express

FinMin simplifies GST refund claim process for businesses

September 6, 2018 admin Comments 2 comments

Easing compliance burden for businesses, the Finance Ministry has said GST refund can be claimed by simply submitting a printout of ‘GSTR-2A’ form to tax authorities instead of giving all purchase invoices of a month.

GSTR-2A is a purchase return auto-generated by the system based on the transaction between a business and its supplier.

“The proper officer shall rely upon form GSTR-2A as an evidence of the account of the supply by the corresponding supplier in relation to which the input tax credit has been availed by the claimant.

“…There may be situations in which Form GSTR-2A may not contain the details of all the invoices relating to the input tax credit availed, possibly because the supplier’s Form GSTR-1 was delayed or not filed.

“In such situations, the proper officer may call for the hard copies of such invoices if he deems it necessary for the examination of the claim for refund,” the Ministry said in a clarification.

In the clarification to Principal Chief Commissioners, the GST Policy Wing in the Ministry said the proper officer shall not insist on the submission of an invoice (either original or duplicate) the details of which are present in GSTR-2A of the relevant period submitted by the claimant.

The GST Policy Wing further said a few cases have come to notice where a tax authority, after receiving a sanction order from the counterpart tax authority (Centre or State), has refused to disburse the relevant sanctioned amount calling into question the validity of the sanction order on certain grounds.

“It is hereby clarified that neither the State nor the Central tax authorities shall refuse to disburse the amount sanctioned by the counterpart tax authority on any grounds whatsoever, except under sub-section (11) of section 54 of the CGST Act.

Also Read: Finance ministry notifies annual return forms under GST for 2017-18

“It is further clarified that any adjustment of the amount sanctioned as GST refund against any outstanding demand against the claimant can be carried out by the refund disbursing authority if not already done by the refund sanctioning authority,” the Ministry said.

AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan said it is clarified that the remedy for correction of an incorrect or erroneous sanction order lies in filing an appeal against such order. “Recipient officer cannot withhold disbursement of the sanctioned amount on any pretext,” he said.

Mohan said so far invoices relating to inputs, input services, and capital goods were to be submitted for processing of claims.

“Trade and industry felt that it is cumbersome and increases their compliance cost, especially where the number of invoices is large in an entity. It has now been decided that the refund claim shall be accompanied by a printout of FORM GSTR-2A of the claimant for the relevant period for which the GST refund is claimed,” he added.

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Source: Business Today

GST provided much-needed reform to the logistics sector

July 2, 2018 admin Comments 1 comment

The implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) ushered in much-needed reforms in India’s largely unorganised logistics and transport sector, and helped speed up movement of trucks, according to industry executives.

Transporters and logistics players ET spoke to said the switch to GST led to at least 20% reduction in turnaround time of trucks after border checkposts were dismantled. Besides, they said, implementation of the e-way bill on consignments of Rs 50,000 and above was gradually freeing them from unnecessary checking by state government raid parties.

However, they said, full benefits of GST would only be realised with seamless passage through the currently clogged toll gates, along an end to harassment by state transport and tax authorities. The impact was much more in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, which were particularly difficult states for truckers to move through a year ago.

A recent Icra survey of 50 transport companies found turnaround time in road transport reduced 18-20% since implementation of GST. “There are already signs that introduction of GST is rapidly leading to reduction in time wastage and harassment at interstate borders as well as checking clandestine movement of goods,” said Vinayak Chatterjee, chairman, Feedback Infra.

However, SP Singh, senior fellow, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training, said a lot of states were late in implementing the e-way bill. “Maharashtra and Punjab implemented it only recently. It would take another quarter to fully assess impact. Also, state departments continue to create hurdles in movement of trucks,” he said. Singh said the government should also rationalise GST on transport services. Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari told ET the sector had benefited most from GST. “Travel time of trucks has come down significantly as the country has become a common market with removal of border check posts in states. Ease of transportation has been our focus area,” he said.