GST officers bust 304 distributes including Rs 25k cr phony ITC claims

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Currently, 1.39 lakh businesses are registered under GST, launched 6 years ago on July 1, 2017 (Imaging: Ajay Mohanty) GST officers have
busted 304 syndicates involving 9,000 fake GSTINs and input tax credit (ITC) claims of Rs 25,000 crore in the ongoing drive against bogus
firms, CBIC chairman Vivek Johri said on Saturday. The chief of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) flagged that only 40
per cent of the corporate income taxpayer base is registered under Goods and Services Tax (GST). Currently, 1.39 lakh businesses are
registered under GST, launched 6 years ago on July 1, 2017. Speaking at the GST Day 2023 event here, Johri appealed to the business to get
registered under GST and said the department is conducting an outreach programme to make businesses aware of the benefits of GST. The
Centre and state tax officers are conducting a special two-month drive to identify fake businesses registered under GST for the purpose of
claiming ITC fraudulently and defrauding the exchequer. In the ongoing drive, officers have identified 304 syndicates involving 9,000 fake
GSTINs (GST identification numbers) and bogus ITC claims of Rs 25,000 crore, Johri said. He said the department is using advanced data
analytics, and adopting a non-intrusive approach to nab evaders. "I warn those who continue to do this that we come at them with very heavy
hand...we want a larger but clean taxpayer base so that honest taxpayers are protected," Johri said.(Only the headline and picture of this
report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)First
Published: Jul 01 2023 | 5:58 PMIST