The GST Council has approved an additional penalty of up to 10 percent of the profiteered amount if it is not paid within 30 days.
As part of anti-profiteering investigations, tax officials will check invoices of 20 suppliers, according to a report by The Economic Times.
Investigators would look for an increase in input tax credit in the quarters after GST was changed and conduct 'mock purchases', check for fixed stickers, and visit premises to build cases against companies, it said.
"GST Council has approved the standard operating procedures for anti-profiteering," a government official told the paper. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the news.
The GST Council on June 21 extended the term of the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) by two years. It also approved an additional penalty of up to 10 percent of the profiteered amount if not paid within 30 days. At present, a company has to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 and the profiteered amount.
Tax experts told the paper tax officials would need to be careful when marking profiteering and it should not become a routine practice. "It is important for the government to ensure that the question of 'profiteering' is not raised as a routine matter in every assessment or audit," Pratik Jain, national leader, indirect taxes, PwC told the paper.
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