THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A state-wide raid by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) department on different businesses unearthed turnover suppression roughly estimated at about Rs 300 crore. The raid conducted on Thursday was the first major exercise of the department to check compliance and detect evasion after the GST came into effect.
The simultaneous raids were conducted on 57 business places of 20 major dealers. The establishments were selected after a scientific examination of data available with the department, said Shainamol, additional commissioner of the State GST department.
“Businesses that paid Rs 50 lakh and above as tax during the previous VAT regime and failed in GST return filing were selected. E-way bills related to the establishments and GSTIN data were also analysed,” she told Express.
Most of the establishments had not filed more than two returns and some did not make a single filing in the past two years. The e-way bills related to the 20 dealers in a single year were worth about Rs 400 crore.
The exact figure of evasion and tax earnings would be known after the scrutiny of data collected in the raids. The erring establishments will face action as per the provisions of the GST rules. The department expects the raid would help in raising the compliance level.