With GST evasion crossing over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2022-23, Centre and state tax officers have initiated a two-month long special drive to identify fake GST registration and nab offenders. The GST Policy Wing had earlier this month written to Principal Chief Commissioners of Central Tax highlighting that fake/ non-genuine registrations are being used to fraudulently pass on input tax credit to unscrupulous recipients by issuing invoices without any underlying supply of goods or services or both. "This menace of fake registrations and issuance of bogus invoices for passing of fake ITC has become a serious problem, wherein fraudulent people engage in dubious and complex transactions, causing revenue loss to the government," the Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC) had said. Currently, there are 1.39 crore businesses registered under Goods and Services Tax (GST), which was implemented on July 1, 2017. The government has been using robust data analytics and artificial intelligence to
The Commerce Ministry introduced Para 2.43 on "merchanting trade" in the recently released Foreign Trade Policy 2023
MeitY feels these are not a security threat
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has rolled out a module for automated scrutiny of GST returns. This module will enable the officers to carry out scrutiny of GST returns of Centre Administered Taxpayers selected on the basis of data analytics and risks identified by the System, the finance ministry said in a statement. In the module, discrepancies on account of risks associated with a return are displayed to the tax officers. Tax officers are provided with a workflow for interacting with the taxpayers through the GSTN Common Portal for communication of discrepancies noticed. Implementation of this Automated Return Scrutiny Module has commenced with the scrutiny of GST returns for FY 2019-20, and the requisite data for the purpose has already been made available on the officers' dashboard, the statement added.
Lowering of e-invoicing threshold will extend the digital application to the MSME sector and benefit the business ecosystem by reducing costs, rationalising errors, and processing invoices quicker
It was the biggest tax demand notice issued in the history of indirect taxes in India
A special drive starting May 16 to weed out bogus GST invoices
Any claim for refund/credit shall be examined on its merits and on a case-by-case basis: SC
The government has extended the deadline to May 31 for Goods Transport Agencies to exercise the option of paying GST on forward charge basis for current fiscal. Under GST, Goods Transport Agencies have the option to collect and pay GST on forward charge basis. If they do not opt to do so, the liability to pay the tax gets transferred to the recipient of the service, under reverse charge mechanism. To opt for paying Goods and Services Tax (GST) under forward charge basis at the rate of 12 per cent (with input tax credit) and 5 per cent (without ITC benefits) in a fiscal, a Goods Transport Agency (GTA) has to fill a form (Annexure V) by March 15 of the preceding financial year. In an amendment to the GST Act, the finance ministry in May said "the option for the Financial Year 2023-2024 (by a GTA) shall be exercised on or before the 31st May". Any entity providing service of goods transport by road and issuing a consignment note for the purpose is defined as GTA under GST, which came
Traders' body CAIT on Monday made a case for lowering the GST rate on beverages from 28 per cent, which comes to 40 per cent after inclusion of cess, arguing that it blocks the working capital of small retailers. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) urged the union finance minister to consider reducing GST rate on beverages and suggested that India should move to a Sugar Based Tax (SBT) system keeping the tax slabs proportional to the sugar in products, which means, higher the sugar in products, higher the tax. "For beverages that are in the low and no sugar category, this will reduce taxes, opening up capital for the retailers to make more purchases, increase sales and double their incomes. This also benefits the common man significantly, by reducing their household costs at the same time," CAIT stated. The traders' body said it will launch a campaign among stakeholders and citizens to forge an alliance with other verticals of the economy like farmers, transporters, SMEs,
In which we munch over the week's platter of news and views
The CBIC will undertake a two-month-long special drive to detect fake GST registrations and take action to identify the masterminds/beneficiaries as it aims to weed out fake ITC claims. Fake/non-genuine registrations are being used to fraudulently pass on input tax credit (ITC) to unscrupulous recipients by issuing invoices without any underlying supply of goods or services or both. This menace of fake registrations and issuance of bogus invoices for passing fake ITC has become a serious problem, wherein fraudulent people engage in dubious and complex transactions, causing revenue loss to the government, the GST Policy wing of the CBIC said. "A Special All-India Drive may be launched by all Central and State Tax administrations during the period 16th May 2023 to 15th July 2023 to detect suspicious/fake GSTINs and to conduct requisite verification and further remedial action to weed out these fake billers from the GST eco-system and to safeguard Government revenue, the Central Board
GST Network has advised taxpayers to plan return filing and invoice uploading better and avoid the last-minute rush, which results in the clogging of GST systems. It said that 20.05 lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed on April 20 -- the last day for filing tax returns for sales in March, resulting in a waiting queue on the GST system and causing inconvenience to some of the taxpayers. Around 45 per cent of the returns filed on April 20 were either NIL returns (no tax liability and no ITC availment) or were such returns where no tax was paid in cash. It also highlighted that some taxpayers are uploading a large number of invoices (up to 27 lakhs) of the past period in one GSTR-1 on the due date of filing. "Taxpayers are advised to inculcate a month-wise return filing discipline for all the B2B invoices for the month and avoid reporting invoices of the past period in one go, as such behaviour can adversely impact the queue (waiting time) on the GST system," GSTN said in an advisory to ..
Early fears about the regime have not come true, but there is room for improvement
If this trend continues, the decline in IGST might indicate weak customs duty collections in FY24
According to Jalan, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is expected to achieve more, which it has not in April 2023 wherein the growth in GST Collections is exactly 12 per cent
April 2023 also saw the highest ever tax collection on a single day. "On April 20, Rs 68,228 crore was paid through 9.8 lakh transactions," the ministry said in a release
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday asked the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) to increase the taxpayer base and introduce an automated GST return scrutiny system by next week. The total Indirect Tax collections for the 2022-23 fiscal stood at Rs 13.82 lakh crore, up from Rs 12.89 Lakh crore in 2021-22. The average gross monthly GST collection for 2022-23 stood at Rs 1.51 lakh crore and monthly GST revenue collections exceeded Rs 1.4 lakh crore for 12 months in a row. In a review meeting with the CBIC, Sitharaman desired that the indirect tax body may undertake a comprehensive root cause analysis of fake billing and input tax credit claims by studying the typology of cases already booked and come up with recommendations on technology-based solutions to address the menace and prevent its occurrence. The Finance Minister directed CBIC to introduce its automated GST return scrutiny by next week and to implement an action plan to increase the taxpayer base .
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance on Wednesday said it has refuted the contention of the GST department with regard to tax liability due to input tax credit (ITC) claims. In a filing to stock exchanges, ICICI Prudential Life said it had last fiscal received an intimation from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) of estimated tax liability to the company. "The company has filed a response refuting the claim," it said. ICICI Prudential also clarified that it has not received any 'show cause notice with regard to the tax liability from DGGI' for evasion of taxes and/or unpaid dues and hence has not made any provision or contingent liability for the same in the financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2023. In the last fiscal, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) initiated a GST enquiry into certain expenses for which input GST credit had been claimed by the company. "The ongoing enquiries of DGGI is part of an investigation on an insurance industry-
Hosur Coir Foams' supplies will draw 18 per cent integrated GST, rules authority