VIJAYAWADA: P Raja Kesava Reddy, principal of a school at Darsi town in Prakasam district, while visiting the city recently to attend a family function held in Labbipet, had a bizarre experience when he purchased sweets and other snack items from a famous sweet shop on Bundar Road and asked for the bill. Instead of giving him a proper bill, the management of the shop gave him a piece of paper in which just the amount spend was mentioned along with the word ‘paid’ stamped on it.
Reddy said that he did buy sweets and snack items, worth around Rs 3000. “They gave me a piece of paper saying it was the bill; however, it did not contain particulars of the items purchased. Only, I could see (the word) “PAID” stamped on it. With no proper bill, how can I return the goods if any complaint regarding the food items arises? They are flouting the rules by not issuing proper bills and subsequently evading GST and income tax,” Reddy rued.
He further said, “When I demanded a proper bill for the purchase, they gave me another bill, which was also invalid. That bill did not contain any GST number and particulars of tax charged,” Reddy added. Kesava Reddy’s case isn’t an isolated example. Hundreds of people, purchasing goods from the sweetmeat shops daily, are facing this problem - issuance of unauthorized purchase bills.
When Reddy’s case was brought to the notice of the concerned GST officials, they assured action against the sweet shop management and said they had noticed that more than 80 percent of the sweetmeat traders in the city were issuing unauthorized bills and evading taxes to the government. “We have received similar complaints and have taken action against some sweetmeat traders. If anybody failed to produce an authorized bill, residents should bring it to our notice immediately and we would take action against the erring trader,” said Raghunadh, Joint Commissioner, GST- Vijayawada Zone.
According to GST officials of the Vijayawada Zone more than 500 cases had been registered against traders - including those selling sweetmeats in the city - who failed to provide authorised bills to purchasers and fines worth more than rupees one crore charged since the implementation of the GST Act on June 1, 2017.
As per the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regulations, every shopkeeper should issue an authorised bill to the customer, which mentions the goods purchased and the tax charged separately. To avoid paying the GST and hide the sales, these sweet shop owners are deliberately not coming under the GST umbrella and giving poor excuses for their act, said an official. “Though there are some technical problems, some traders are intentionally not giving proper bills to customers, by telling them they will save money in the process. But it is illegal and will land them in trouble,” an official said.
What is more shocking, some traders, reportedly are instilling fear in the mind of customers by saying that they would be required to pay an additional five percent if proper GST-complaint bills were raised; instead those traders suggested issuing of an invoice of the purchase made, which they said would save the customer additional money. “This way, the customer will lose his right to claim that goods were purchased from the shop and also will be unable to get the damaged goods replaced. In both the cases, the trader will get his sales profit without paying taxes to the government,” Raghunadh said.
To make the public more aware, GST officials are conducting decoy operations across the city and requesting customers to ask for proper bills that give a breakup of items purchased. “These operations will be continued till all the traders in the city issue proper bills to the customer,” Raghunadh said.
Action taken so far
More than 500 cases had been registered against traders - including those selling sweet meats in the city - who failed to provide authorised bills to purchasers.
Fines worth more than rupees one crore charged since the implementation of the GST Act.