Notice shot off to businesses for less IGST input credit claim

Tax authorities have started sending notices to businesses who have claimed less IGST input tax credit while filing sales returns as against the credit claims generated by GST Network (GSTN).

The effort of this exercise, officials said, is to find out whether the mismatch is on account of genuine errors by the businesses or with a view to evade taxes.

The notices follow a big data analytics conducted by the revenue department which has prepared a list of dealers and businesses who have claimed less IGST Input tax credit (ITC) in summary returns GSTR-3B than what they have passed on or is reflected in GSTR-2A.

Such notices have been sent to a number of businesses in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, officials said.

As per the notice, GST officers have pointed out the discrepancy and has asked taxpayers to claim the input credit or refund in the returns of the subsequent month.

The analytics was conducted based on data between July to March - the first nine months of GST rollout.

The GST Council, headed by Union Finance Minister had in March had directed officials to conduct further analysis of the data to zero in on the chain leading to evasions and initiate adequate action thereof.

EY Partner Abhishek Jain said: "These mismatches could be on account of credits reflecting in GSTR-2A not being eligible (like rent-a-cab, food & beverage, inputs for exempt supplies). However, these e-mails (notices) from the government could also be constructive input for businesses who have inadvertently missed claiming credits (like airline credits, hotel credits)."