THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The GST department’s special drive against tax evasion of gold is yielding good results. The latest cases include the seizure of gold worth Rs 3.35 crore from Kayamkulam and Karunagapally on Saturday. The owner was slapped with a fine notice worth Rs 20.14 lakh for lack of documents. Sources in the department said the special drive was initiated in the wake of reports on largescale tax evasion by traders. In August last year, the department had started confiscating smuggled gold.
It was based on an order issued by the Gujarat High Court, that allowed the taxes department to confiscate the contraband by invoking Section 130 of the GST Act. Till then, the state invoked Section 129 of the GST Act, in which the offender was let off after levying three per cent GST and an equal amount as a fine. In other cases, the seized gold is released when the owner pays double the tax amount and a penalty. The GST on gold is three per cent. The department hopes that the drive will result in more compliance, which would be reflected in the next filing of returns.
Earlier, a proposal by the state government to implement e-way bills for gold transportation was objected to by some states like Gujarat and Bihar. They cited security reasons as leakage of information would threaten the life of carriers. Now, Kerala has made another proposal to allow state governments to implement e-way bills for intra-state transportation. The proposal is before the Group of Ministers (GoM) and would be discussed in its next meeting. Later, the GoM will submit its recommendation at the GST council meeting. The E-way bill for intra-state movement of gold would bring down evasion to a significant extend. But, it will not help prevent evasion in inter-state transportation, which would be higher.
SOME STATES OBJECTED TO IT EARLIER
Earlier, a proposal by the state government to implement e-way bills for gold transportation was objected to by some states like Gujarat and Bihar. They cited security reasons as leakage of information would threaten the life of carriers.