COIMBATORE: The Commissionerate of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Coimbatore registered Rs 3,003 crore revenue in 2022-23, the highest since the introduction of GST, said ARS Kumar, Principal Commissioner of GST for Coimbatore Commissionerate on Saturday.
Addressing the media on the sidelines of the GST Day 2023 programme, Kumar said that the tax base, which covers Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Nilgiris districts, had increased to 77,484 from 53,800 in the last six years.
“We achieved the total tax collection of Rs 3,003 crore against the Rs 1,106 crore we had collected in 2017 when GST was introduced,” he said. He said that the GST has achieved its objectives and it is a win-win situation for both the centre and the state. “A recent survey revealed that 88% of the MSME sector has attributed GST to the reduction of cost. Coimbatore is a well-known MSME hub and it welcomed GST,” he said.
Explaining the achievements of Coimbatore Commissionerate, he said, they took strict measures to enforce the law in 2022 and it worked as the tax collection has increased. “As many as 53 cases involving evasion of Rs 112 crore were booked and Rs 47 crore was recovered during the investigation. In comparison to last year, our detection of evasion has increased by 83% and the recovery has increased by 134%.
In 2022, the return filing stood at 87% and it has gone up to 97% at the end of last financial year due to our efforts,” he said. “We are working on releasing the GST refunds promptly. So far, we have given Rs 657 crore as a refund and last year, we had given Rs 150 crore as a refund. In fact, we have kept an in-house decision to grant the refund within a month if the claim is right. We have better communication with the taxpayers to inform the developments in the GST implementation,” he added.
Explaining the actions taken against bogus ITC filing, the commissioner said that in the Coimbatore region, 324 taxpayers were found indulging in bogus ITC (Input Tax Credit) filing in the past two months.
“Out of that, we had verified 212 entities, from which 186 were found non-existing and 26 were found existing. Through the non-existing entities, the bogus ITC availed by them came to around Rs 127 crore. In the 186 entities, licenses of 84 cases were suspended and registration was cancelled for 17 entities. In the remaining 63 cases, the ITC of around Rs 13.72 crore remain in their records and is blocked. They cannot avail the credit unless they produce genuine documents,” he added.
Justice P Sathasivam was the chief guest at the event.