With less than three months to go before the current financial year ends, enforcement actions have multiplied and pressure has mounted on revenue officers to augment GST collections in the remaining period of the fiscal.
Directing field officers to go after fraudsters and non-filers using data analytics, the Revenue Department has fixed the GST target for January and February at ₹1.15 lakh crore each while the March collection is to be ₹1.25 lakh crore.
Official sources said about 40,000 companies had been red-flagged for availing excess or fraudulent ITC (input tax credit) and other tax-related wrongful issues, through data analytics.
“Field formations have been directed to conclude ITC recuperation without any overreach but in a stipulated time frame,” an official said. There are 1.2 crore GST registrants across India.
Sources said GST authorities would look into the mismatch of supply and purchase invoices, mismatch in GSTR-1, GSTR-2A and GSTR-3B, failure to file returns and over-invoicing, among others to put the heat on the tax dodgers.
While GST authorities will send SMS and emails to all such offenders, taxpayers, who have taken ITC wrongfully, can voluntarily repay amounts equal to the inadmissible credit before punitive action is taken.
