JAMMU The State Tax Department Friday said that filing of returns under GST has recorded a substantial increase in the state following stepped up enforcement measures.
As per an official handout, the Department has been conducting regular checking of records as well as e-way bills at various places in the state to prevent large-scale tax evasion noticed under GST.
Of the total registered number of 92000 dealers in the GSTN, till last month only 52000 trade and business units were filing returns regularly. With the increased enforcement activities by the department, now 72000 trade and businesses have filed returns for the month of October 2018, the department said.
In 70% cases, where inspections were carried out, gross violation and tax evasion have been detected. Sustained efforts of the department against return defaulters have resulted in a substantial increase in the monthly IGST settlement of the state, it added. The state received an IGST settlement of Rs.225 crore on an average during the previous months. However, with the action against the defaulters, the IGST settlement for the month of October has gone up to Rs.265 crore, the statement added.
‘Special drive aimed at plugging tax evasion’
The State Tax Department today made it clear that the drive launched by the Department for inspecting businesses and checking e-way bills is to prevent large-scale tax evasion noticed under GST.
While the share of J&K GST to total GST of all the states is 1.2%, the compliance level in the State is only 0.27 %, said a spokesperson of the State Tx Department in a statement issued here today.
He said the citizens should be aware that while they are paying legitimate GST, the sameshould reach the Government accounts. The departmental assessment has revealed around 30% leakage in the process, he said and added that out of the total registered 92000 dealers in the GSTN, till last month only 52000 trade and businesses were filing GST returns regularly. With the increased enforcement activities by the department, now 72000 trade and businesses have filed returns for the month of October 2018, he said and added that in 70% of the cases, where inspections have been carried out by the Department grossviolation and tax evasion have been detected.
Sustained efforts of the Department against defaulters has resulted in a substantial increase in the monthly IGST settlement of the state. The state received an IGST settlement of Rs225 crore on an average during the previous months. However, with the action against the defaulters, the IGST settlement for the month of October has gone up to Rs265 crore, he said.
The spokesman said that the Chambers of Commerce have wrongly misinterpreted toll tax as if it is levied in contradiction of GST regime. Toll tax is levied consciously to promote industrial development in the state as a policy tool, he said and added that theChamber has wrongly accused the State Tax Department of interfering in cross-LoC trade while as the department has not interfered in the trade in any manner till date.
The spokesperson further reiterated that investigation of records and checking of e-way bills would continue till such time the trade and businesses start complying the GST law, file returns in time, generate proper invoices and deposit the tax to the department timely. In none of the cases where teams of the department have conducted investigations, any misbehavior on the part of staff of the department has been reported, he said and added that the investigation teams have been led by senior officers of the department and the lower staff have been wearing proper uniform in order to ensure lest anybody in civil dress should create confusion by way of entering or intentionally joining the team.
The spokesperson expressed dismay over the personal attack by the Chamber of Commerce against the officers of the department and appealed the public to support the department in curbing tax evasion. The spokesperson also appealed to general public to insist for proper bill against any purchases made by them. Not taking bills by the public from any supplier is causing tax evasion and loss of revenue to the Government, he said.
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