New Delhi: The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) initiated a special drive against the practice of claiming fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) to plug the leakage in Government revenue in November 2020 and continues to check ITC evasion actively.
According to an official press release from the Ministry of Finance, “Overall in FY2023-24, Rs 1.36 lakh crore has been detected as overall GST evasion (including fake ITC) and voluntary payment of Rs 14,108 crore has been made for the same.”
Being the premier Intelligence and Investigating Agency of GST tax evasion across the country, the DGGI initiated a Special Drive against the practice of claiming fake Input Tax Credits to plug the leakage in Government revenue, according to the release.
“From April 2020 to September 2023, more than 6,000 fake ITC cases involving more than Rs 57,000 crore in GST evasion have been detected and a total of 500 persons have been arrested,” it said.
Since June 2023, DGGI has laid special emphasis on identifying and apprehending the masterminds and disrupting syndicates, operating across the country.
Cases have been unravelled using data analysis aided by advanced technical tools which has led to the arrest of tax evaders, said the release.
As per the release, these tax syndicates often use gullible persons and entice them with job/commission/bank loans etc. to extract their KYC documents which were then used for the creation of fake / shell firms/companies without their knowledge and consent.
In some cases, KYCs were used with the knowledge of the concerned person by paying them small pecuniary benefits.
In the current Financial Year 2023-24, a total of 1,040 fake ITC cases involving Rs 14,000 crore have been detected with a total of 91 fraudsters have been apprehended to date, stated the release.
In order to tackle the menace of GST evasion, the DGGI develops intelligence, especially in new areas of tax evasion, through advanced tools for data analytics besides using its intelligence network across the country to collect such information, it said further. (ANI)
(With inputs from ANI)
