• Notification Date: 15-11-2022
• Notification No: N/A

GST Department Issues 20,000 Notices to Evaders

The GST department under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has run scrutiny of about 34,000 taxpayers’ accounts. The department has issued about 20,000 notices to tax evaders who have failed to pay their GST within the definite timeline in the Financial Year 2017-18. Show-cause notices have been issued to several tax-evading entities, proving to be chronic defaulters when the GST audit was first rolled out. According to the ongoing investigation, the GST department is about to issue further notices regarding 35,000 more cases of FY 2018-19.  

The GST department is almost done with 95 percent of the scrutiny of the 34,000 cases, of which the department has sought an explanation for short payment in about 50-60 percent of the cases. The department expects to receive an explanation from the remaining taxpayers, confirming that tax demand exists or closing the case without any further demand.   

The GST department has made this significant move to make sure that the taxpayers report their input tax credits, supply details, and tax payments accurately and consistently. The GST officers gather the necessary information required to scrutinize the taxpayers’ accounts from Advanced Analytics in Indirect Taxation, Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management, GST Network, and the e-way bill portal. A backend reconciliation of income tax is done to identify any discrepancies in the gathered data. 

The rate rationalization for improving the average GST rate has been delayed to 2024. The CBIC is improving compliance and adopting other measures to enhance tax revenue collections. GST scrutiny and audit are frequently done to check fraudulent activities. In the first seven months of the Financial Year 2022-23, the GST revenue collection has reached up to Rs.1.49 trillion a month. In the preceding year, the amount of collection was Rs.1.23 trillion.  

The GST department reported that this month has noted the highest amount of GST collection. This implies that the GST collection might exceed the amount of Budgeted Central GST collection in FY 2022-23 by Rs.1.5 trillion.