45K entities to come under mandatory 1% cash payment of GST liability ambit

The mandatory requirement of 1 per cent cash payment of GST liability with effect from January 1 would be applicable to about 45,000 taxpayers, which is only 0.37 per cent of the total businesses registered in the Goods and Services Tax system, Revenue Department sources said on Saturday.

To curb tax evasion by way of fake invoicing, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had earlier this week amended GST rules making it mandatory for businesses with monthly turnover of over Rs 50 lakh to mandatorily pay at least 1 per cent of their GST liability in cash.

The new rule restricts use of input tax credit (ITC) for discharging GST liability to 99 per cent effective January 1, 2021.

However, this restriction will not apply in cases where the managing director or any partner have paid more than Rs 1 lakh as income tax or the registered person has received a refund amount of more than Rs 1 lakh in the preceding financial year on account of unutilised input tax credit.

Sources said data analysis indicates that out of the total GST taxpayer base of 1.2 crore taxpayers, only around 4 lakh taxpayers have monthly supply value greater than Rs 50 lakh. Of these 4 lakh, only about 1.5 lakh taxpayers pay less than 1 per cent of their GST liability in cash.

"Now, when the exclusions in the rule are applied, then around 1.05 lakh taxpayers get further excluded from these 1.5 lakh taxpayers. Thus, the rule would apply only to approx 40,000 to 45,000 taxpayers. This would be around 0.37 per cent of the total GST tax base of 1.2 crore taxpayers," sources said.

Sources said the rules have been amended to curb the menace of GST fake invoice frauds and fake firms/devious fly-by-night operators who avail and pass on input tax credit (ITC) wrongfully.

The CBIC has booked about 12,000 cases of ITC fraud and arrested 365 persons in such cases so far. During the last six weeks alone, more than 165 fraudsters have been arrested.