Centre-State action to plug GST revenue leak

VIJAYAWADA:  GST officers of Andhra Pradesh and the Central governments met here on Thursday to discuss ways to plug revenue leak through coordinated efforts and information sharing. They have drawn up an action plan to monitor and pursue cases where GST returns were not filed, particularly in businesses with a turnover of over `5 crore. In the last four years since the implementation of GST, the major source of revenue leakage has been the unlawful or bogus claims related to Input Tax Credit (ITC) with fictitious invoices, according to the officials.

They said close coordination between the state and the Central tax departments was vital to identify the sources of these bogus invoices and claimants of false ITC. “All these issues have been thoroughly discussed in the meeting and decisions have been taken on the modalities for sharing data, intelligence, orders, joint investigations, periodic analysis of different sectors,” Special Chief Secretary (Revenue-Commercial Taxes) Rajat Bhargava, who chaired the meeting, said.He said it was also necessary to monitor the (GST) return defaulters, collection of tax arrears and follow-up of court cases.

“Close coordination between the Central and the State tax departments is essential to enhance effective implementation of GST Acts. A uniform approach is also required to resolve cases involving huge revenue implications, legal interpretations and where divergent views are taken by the Central and the state authorities,” Bhargava added.

The state and Central officials decided to share information related to the modus operandi of tax evaders, particularly in commodities and services. The tax authorities would periodically share data on commodity analysis, dealer analysis and market intelligence to ensure tax compliance and check evasion.