The Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) department has unearthed an evasion of Rs. 3.25 crores in a surprise search conducted by the department in Madurai.
A surprise visit conducted on 11 premises of an iron and steel trader in five districts have revealed serious manipulation of records. Preliminary investigation has revealed that the taxpayer was liable to pay GST amounting to Rs. 3.25 crore apart from penalties.
A statement from Commissioner of GST R. Saravanankumar said the searches were conducted on the premises of Safi Traders in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Nagercoil, Virudhunagar, and Madurai on Friday.
The search proceedings were done while profiling the taxpayers who were showing very high utilization of input tax credit with minimal tax payments in cash and based on specific information that output sales were being suppressed/ manipulated.
Large-scale excess/ shortage of stocks was noticed at the time of stock on the trader’s premises. The officials collected incriminating documents for manipulation of records.
Stating that the department had data on all taxpayers who were showing very high input tax utilization, the Commissioner said the Central GST Department would intensify searches and e-way bill checks.
