BHUBANESWAR: Launching a crackdown against unscrupulous traders, the GST enforcement wing on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, conducted simultaneous raids at 14 furniture showrooms in 11 towns across the State. Acting on inputs on evasion of GST, the officials conducted the raids at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Bhawanipatna, Bargarh, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Kantabanji and Balasore.
As many as 32 teams consisting of about 136 officers were engaged in the search and inspection of showrooms and manufacturing units. Physical stocktaking was going on in these place of business/manufacturing facilities and at their secret godowns till the last reports came in.
Initial reports said most of the traders were found to have been paying insignificant amount of tax in cash.
They were also found to be involved in manufacturing/purchasing and selling goods out of account.
A senior GST official said based on extensive data analysis and intelligence collected from various sources, simultaneous raids were conducted on several furniture manufacturers/wholesalers involved in purchasing and selling of furniture out of account without tax invoices.
“During inspection, huge quantities of high-value furniture are found to have been stockpiled for clandestine trade. The stocktaking process is expected to continue due to large volume of materials and furniture,” he said.
Most of the taxpayers were unable to produce regular books of accounts such as purchase, sale and stock register before the inspecting officials instantly which indicates that they are disclosing their purchase and sales and payment of tax as per their own sweet will and not as per actual sales, the official informed.
The GST Commissioner has asked inspecting officers to seize the unaccounted stocks and complete the investigation soon after production of complete set of books of accounts.
Meanwhile, the enforcement wing, which had simultaneously raided 18 jewellery shops located in 12 different towns on October 4 found the firms had paid only Rs 12.66 lakh as tax in cash in five months from April to August.