RS 1.5 TN MTH TAX REVENUES COMES 'NEW NORMAL'

The monthly GST revenues, which used to be Rs 85k-95k cr when GST was launched in 2017, have soared to around Rs 1.5 lakh crore

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With six years passed since the implementation implementation of India’s largest indirect tax reform, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the monthly revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore has now become the established norm. Tax officials are now directing their efforts towards combating fraudsters who continuously devise new methods to exploit the system, resulting in substantial losses for the exchequer.

To apprehend black sheep, who operate as syndicates and create fake entities on the basis of forged documents to claim input tax credit (ITC), tax officers have started using data analytics, artifical intelligence and machine learning aiming to curb evasion, which was over Rs 3 lakh crore since inception of GST. It was over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2022-23. The most critical pending

GST reform is upgradation of GST Network to prevent fake supplies and fraudulent claims of Input Tax Credit (ITC), according to the research data.

Data analysis and physical checks alone cannot completely solve the problem. The GSTN should enable linking of invoice level information filed for claiming ITC by buyer (from GSTR 3B) with the information provided by input suppliers (GSTR 2A and GSTR 2B), said Srivastava.

Even after six years, the GSTN is unable to connect the supplies in a value chain, resulting in significant revenue loss to the government and causing problems for honest businesses, Srivastava added.