GST evasion of Rs 14,302 crore detected in April-May; 28 persons arrested

New Delhi: As many as 2,784 cases of GST evasion involving Rs 14,302 crore were detected in the first two months of the current fiscal, while Rs 5,716 crore was recovered during the period, Parliament was informed on Monday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in the Lok Sabha gave details of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and income tax evasion, as well as detection of outright smuggling by the Customs department.

As per the data, GST evasion of over Rs 2.68 lakh crore was detected in 43,516 cases between 2020-21 and 2023-24 (April-May). A recovery of Rs 76,333 crore was made during the period while 1,020 persons were arrested. In the current fiscal (April-May), 2,784 cases of evasion of Rs 14,302 crore were detected. As many as 28 persons were arrested and Rs 5,716 crore recovered during the period.

As per the statistics on surveys, searches and seizures carried out by the Income Tax Department in the last five years, searches were conducted on 3,946 groups while assets worth Rs 6,662 crore was seized. In 2022-23 fiscal alone, 741 groups were searched and Rs 1,765.56 crore assets were seized.

In the last four years, 42,754 cases of outright smuggling detected by the Customs Department, involving value of about Rs 46,000 crore. In April-May period of the current fiscal, 2,986 cases of outright smuggling involving goods valued at Rs 1,031 crore were detected by the Customs department. About 12,259 cases of commercial frauds were also detected in the last four years, having duty implication of Rs 21,225 crore.

Sitharaman said with the availability of information in electronic form, the Income Tax Department has developed a wide range of non-intrusive methods for detecting tax evasion. Besides, the GST department too is taking a number of steps to tackle evasion, including using robust data analytics and artificial intelligence to identify and track risky taxpayers; sharing of data with partner law enforcement agencies for more targeted interventions; reduction in threshold limit for issue of e-invoice for B2B transactions from Rs 10 crore to Rs 5 crore from August 1, 2023.

CBIC through its customs field formations, along with DRI, is actively engaged in detecting and curbing import-export related commercial frauds. Data analysis based risk management and intelligence development along with human intelligence are being employed by said formations to gather actionable intelligence, which has resulted in substantial detections of tax evasion in recent years, Sitharaman said