The Goods and Services Tax (GST) department has detected Rs 1.95 lakh crore tax evasion in over 25,000 cases so far in the current financial year. According to the finance ministry, of the Rs 1.95 lakh crore evasion detected, taxpayers have voluntarily submitted Rs 21,500 crore.
In the past five years including the current financial year, the total GST evasion detected amounted to Rs 6.8 lakh crore, out of which evaders voluntarily deposited Rs 1.24 lakh crore.
Of the total GST fraud cases, fake ITC claims worth Rs 46,472 crore were detected during the current financial year.
The minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary told parliament that the government has taken several measures for preventing tax evasions such as digitization through e-invoicing and GST analytics.
“Certain projects were also undertaken such as ‘Project Anveshan’ (analytics, verification, shortlisting of anomalies) whereby newer techniques like facial recognition system (FRS), E-way bill data etc. were used for early identification of GSTINs with propensity for fake/ fraudulent activity to generate Intelligence reports,” Chaudhary informed parliament.
Chaudhary further said that the outcomes such as revenue growth and reduction in instances of tax evasion cannot be attributed solely to evasion or non-compliance. “Various other factors such as global economic conditions, economic growth in the country, level of domestic consumption of goods & services, tax rate etc. are also relevant for this,” he added.