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.

Published On : 17-07-2019

Source : Indian Express