As many as 1,004 cases of evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST), adding up to ₹3,223.54 crore, were detected in Tamil Nadu and nearly 50% of the amount had been recovered, according to data presented in Parliament.
The data pertains to the period from July 2017 to January 2020 and the cases were booked by Central GST authorities.
Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance, presented the data in a written reply in the Lok Sabha to a query by Dean Kuriakose (Congress). As per the data, ₹1,513.83 crore had been recovered in the State and 29 arrests had been made and one case was being prosecuted in court.
“There is no evidence to suggest that tax evasion has increased after the implementation of GST. However, the government is vigilant on the issue of tax evasion,” the Minister said in his reply.
He said that efforts were on to curb evasion in GST with the help of inputs from Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management (DGARM).
Measures initiated
The Directorate-General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) and the Central GST field formations were initiating various other measures in this regard, including checking evasion through the e-way bill mechanism and taking action on specific intelligence, Mr. Thakur added.
Last year, D. Jayakumar, Fisheries Minister and State’s representative in the GST Council, had pointed out that the growing number of tax evasion cases was a cause for concern and had requested traders to desist from indulging in unhealthy practices.
