MM TAX CLUB

Megasoft Limited has paid 5 crore out of 28.6 crore Goods and Services Tax (GST) which it had allegedly evaded. The payment comes two weeks after the arrest of its two senior officials.

According to GST department (Rangareddy), the company admitted its liability and has agreed to pay the remaining amount soon. Following this, its executive director-cum-CEO Sunil Kumar Kalidindi and CFO Sridhar Thalalthoty were released on bail.

The GST payment relates to a project undertaken by Megasoft Limited after it was given land by TSIIC in Nanakramguda. In 2017, Megasoft entered into a development agreement with Darshitha Infrastructure Private Limited, a Salarpuria Sattva Group company, for construction of 'Sattva Knowledge Capital' offering office space of 2.2 million sq ft.

While Darshitha is said to have paid its share of taxes on construction service rendered, Megasoft was accused of not paying GST. The department is now also examining records of Darshitha to check the veracity of payment.

As per recent tweet from the EPFO, the organisation is going to hold Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 programme on February 27 to cater to social security needs of organised workers and pensioners.

Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 is a district outreach program for the organised workers and pensioners, the program will provide resolution on grievances and any other EPF related issues to workers and pensioners.

If anyone interested to visit the program they can access the camp location after scanning QR code provided in EPFO tweet below.

Jammu: J&K Finance Department Saturday ordered that before allotting any contract or releasing payment to the contractor, the status of his (contractor’s) GSTIN and authenticity of GST-3B return submitted by him should be verified through the Peridot App (available in the Playstore) or from the State Taxes Department.

GSTIN is a unique 15-digit Goods and Services Tax Identification Number which the business entities obtain after registering under GST.

Circular instructions in this connection were issued to all the Administrative Departments to direct their subordinate officers to follow these guidelines.

“Further, the DD0s should check the latest status of the contractor using the information available on Peridot App or from the State Taxes Department. The payments in favour of those contractors, who are not fulfilling Statutory Obligations under GST Taxation Law should be avoided,” it was further ordered.

Instructions were issued after the Finance Department noted that dealers or contractors whose GSTIN had been cancelled or deactivated were applying for government tenders with submission of fake or forged GST returns.

“Such practice happens because tender inviting departments do not cross-verify documents submitted by the tenderer with the State Taxes Department,” it was observed by the department with concern.

In terms of General Sales Tax Act, 1962, it was mandatory for the contractors to get NOC from the State Taxes Department before applying for a tender.

“This practice has been done away with, post implementation of GST Act, 2017. In order to have timely compliance of returns by contractors as well as DDOs, the State Taxes Department with the help of NIC Jammu has recently developed an Online Web application namely “APNA TDS” portal which helps in identifying payment made to work contract service providers by DDOs through JK Paysys portal,” the instructions mentioned.

It was instructed that before allotting any work contract, the status of GSTIN of the contractor and authenticity of GST-3B return submitted by the contractor could also be verified through the Peridot App (available in the Playstore) or from the State Taxes Department.

“Also before releasing payment to the contractor, the DDOs can verify the latest status of the GSTIN of the contractor by using the information available in Peridot App or through the State Taxes Department in order to ascertain that contractor has not defaulted in GST tax compliance,” the department ordered.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is considering allowing the e-filling of petitions from aggrieved taxpayers as the setting up of GST Appellate Tribunals (GSTAT) may take another 10 months despite a green signal by the GST Council.

The board has submitted before the Bombay High Court that it will not oppose or block any tax litigation if a taxpayer is willing to file an appeal in the high courts.

The move brings relief to taxpayers who are awaiting the setting up of tribunals and are unable to file writ petitions in high courts.

"We are considering the proposal to allow e-filling of writ petitions once the draft changes are included in the finance bill and approved," an official said, adding that meanwhile if a taxpayer wants to challenge the order passed by the commissioner (appeals), officials will not block it or raise any objection.

This is a departure from the board's earlier stance in the Bombay High Court where it had said that a writ petition should not be entertained in the high court to challenge the order passed by the commissioner (appeals). The change in stance comes as the GST Appellate Tribunals may not be fully functional till the year end, the official said. "The setting up of tribunals may not be possible before December or January, even when it is included in the upcoming finance bill," the official said, adding that this was because states have to make changes in their legislation and then the appointment process may take its own time.

The Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) Uttarakhand has been developing intelligence about GST evasion from different sources

The Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) Dehradun Commissionerate has detected a GST evasion of ₹20.83 crore and arrested the proprietor of one city-based firm, officials said.

Dehradun-based Thakur Traders issued goods-less invoices, in excess of ₹135 crores (inclusive of GST) to various entities throughout India and passed on fraudulent Input Tax Credit (ITC) of more than ₹20 crore, and Ishrat Ali Ansari, the proprietor of one of the beneficiary firms, A&A Trading Co., Dehradun, has been arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody, said Deepankar Aron, commissioner CGST Commissionerate Dehradun.

Aron said CGST Uttarakhand has been developing intelligence about GST evasion from different sources.

“Apart from informers, the officers are relying heavily on data analysis. A major drive has been taken by this office as regards those entities who have availed or utilised fake ITC in order to evade government revenue. Intelligence inputs reveal that a nexus of newly registered firms has been passing huge amounts of ineligible ITC within a very short period of their registration. This fraudulent ITC is then being utilised to pay the GST liabilities causing losses to the government exchequer,” he said.

Aron said during interrogation the proprietor of A&A Trading Co., Dehradun revealed that the firm Indian Trading Co. was created by him to utilise fraudulent ITC and consciously evade taxes. Subsequently, searches were also conducted at other suppliers of A&A Trading Co., based in Kanpur and Muzaffarnagar, which in turn also turned out to be fake. Accordingly, the proprietor of A&A Trading Co. who has utilised fraudulent ITC to the tune of ₹ 9.36 crore and seems to be part of a wider nexus, was arrested on Friday under Section 69 of CGST Act, 2017 and was sent to 14-day judicial custody. The evasion of such a huge amount of GST dues is punishable with imprisonment of up to 5 years in jail along with a fine. Further investigation on various other aspects is underway,” he added.