The State Vigilance Bureau has reported an arrest of a trader, Amit Bansal, a resident of Sirsa town, in an alleged case of fraudulently taking tax refunds of about Rs 54 crore by registering shell firms.
The Vigilance registered a case against Padam Bansal, his son Amit Bansal and some other persons on the basis of a complaint filed by DSP Gaurav Sharma on June 29 under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.During the probe, it came to light that Padam Bansal, Amit and their accomplices had floated several shell firms from 2010 to 2015.
Frequent arrests are being reported amidst reports that the Government is planning to decriminalise certain offences under the goods and services tax (GST) by raising the threshold limit from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore in tax evasion cases in order to promote ease of doing business.
“A proposal is under consideration to raise the threshold to Rs 5 crore for initiating criminal prosecution. The matter will be put up before GST Council soon,” a senior official said.
Currently, the GST evasion of Rs 2-5 crore attracts three years jail term while tax evasion up to Rs 2 crore invites a jail term of one year.
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