MM TAX CLUB

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.

In exercise of powers conferred under Paragraph 1.03 and 2.04 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-2020, as amended from time to time, the Director General of Foreign Trade hereby makes one time relaxation in procedure in respect of acceptance of fee for excess duty utlisation under the EPCG Scheme.

Advisory dated 25/02/2023 on opting for payment of tax under the forward charge mechanism by a Goods Transport Agency (GTA)

In compliance of Notification No. 03/2022-Central Tax (Rate), dated 13th July, 2022, an option is being provided on the portal to all the existing taxpayers providing Goods Transport Agencies Services, desirous of opting to pay tax under the forward charge mechanism to exercise their option. They can navigate Services > User Services > Opting Forward Charge Payment by GTA (Annexure V), after login, to submit their option on the portal.

Option in Annexure V FORM is required to be submitted on the portal by the Goods Transport Agencies every year before the commencement of the Financial Year. The Option once filed cannot be withdrawn during the year and the cut-off date for filing the Annexure V FORM is 15th March of the preceding financial year.

Annexure V has been made available on the portal for GTA’s to exercise their option for the Financial Year 2023-24, which would be available till 15TH March, 2023.

GSTN is pleased to inform the taxpayers that the functionality for geocoding the principal place of business address (i.e. the process of converting an address or description of a location into geographic coordinates) is now available on the GST Portal. This feature is introduced to ensure the accuracy of address details in GSTN records and streamline the address location and verification process.

This functionality can be accessed under the Services/Registration tab in the FO portal. The system-generated geocoded address will be displayed, and taxpayers can either accept it or update it as per their requirements of their case. In cases where the system-generated geocoded address is unavailable, a blank will be displayed, and taxpayers can directly update the geocoded address.

The geocoded address details will be saved separately under the "Principal Geocoded" tab on the portal. They can be viewed under My profile>>Place of Business tab under the heading "Principal Geocoded" after logging into the portal. It will not change your existing addresses.

The geocoding link will not be visible on the portal once the geocoding details are submitted by the taxpayer. This is a one-time activity, and once submitted, revision in the address is not allowed and the functionality will not be visible to the taxpayers who have already geocoded their address through new registration or core amendment. GSTN emphasizes once again that the address appearing on the registration certificate can be changed only through core amendment process. This geocoding functionality would not impact the previously saved address record.

This functionality is available for normal, composition, SEZ units, SEZ developers, ISD, and casual taxpayers who are active, cancelled, and suspended. It will gradually be opened for other types of taxpayers.

GSTN would like to also inform you that this functionality is currently being made available for taxpayers registered in Delhi and Haryana only, and it will gradually be opened for taxpayers from other States and UTs.