The Indore Commissionerate of Central GST has uncovered 62 firms that registered for GST using fake documents and were involved in generating fake invoices and input tax credits worth crores of rupees.
To combat the problem of fake GST registrations and prevent such incidents, the Central GST Commissionerate, Indore, with the guidance of Chief Commissioner, Bhopal Shri. Navneet Goyal and Principal Commissioner Shri. Partha Roy Chowdhury has initiated an operation against these miscreants.
The Data Analytics Team at the Commissionerate utilized AI tools and human intervention to scrutinize and verify all suspicious GST registrations, according to sources.
During the first phase of the drive, data analytics identified 62 firms that seemed to be suspicious. Physical verification of these firms revealed that 60 of them did not exist, and their GST registrations were cancelled. Out of these 60 fake firms, 27 firms had availed ITC of Rs 59.6 Crores and passed on ITC of Rs 60.2 Crores.
Further investigation into these firms has been initiated. The remaining 33 firms were cancelled before they could pass on any fake ITC to other registrations. Without the intervention of the Central GST teams, these miscreants could have utilized these firms to pass on fake ITC.
The GST Council has been taking several measures to curb GST fraud, such as implementing technology-based solutions like e-way bills, real-time invoice matching, and auto-population of returns. The government has also set up anti-evasion wings and formed a specialized investigation agency, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), to investigate and prosecute cases of GST fraud.
Due to continuous efforts in the current financial year of 2022-23, the Central GST Commissionerate, Indore has detected a total of 75 cases of tax fraud, amounting to Rs. 134.67 Cr. The Commissionerate will continue to drive further in the coming months to eliminate possible fake or non-existent GST registrations, according to reports.
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