NAVEENA GHANATE
Hyderabad
Telangana has reported 1,113 Goods and Services Tax (GST) invoice fraud cases in the last five years, the latest official data says. These fake GST invoice fraud cases involve an amount of over Rs 3,275 crore from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
According to data released by the Union Finance Ministry, the tax authorities were able to realise only Rs 728 crore from the GST fraudsters in Telangana. 61 people were arrested for fake GST bill-related frauds in the state.
Telangana is seventh while Maharashtra and Gujarat are in the top two slots when it comes to GST invoice fraud cases followed by Haryana and Tamil Nadu.
Telangana accounted for four per cent of the 26,254 fake GST bill cases registered by Central GST authorities, says data tabled by the government in Parliament.
From 01.07.2017 to 30.06.2023 there were 137 fraudulent cases of GST registration by misusing the PAN and Aadhaar details of other people to claim ITC in Telangana. These 137 cases involved Rs 267.18 crore, of which Rs 17.43 crore has been realised. 12 persons were detained.
The data showed that Central GST authorities registered 26,254 fake GST bill cases across the country during the financial years from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
These fake GST invoice fraud cases involve an amount of over Rs 1,15,457 crore of which only Rs 10,346 crore was realised. Around 1,239 arrests were made across the country regarding this.
Around 5,070 fraudulent cases of GST registration by misusing PAN and Aadhaar details of others to claim ITC were detected nationwide. Of the Rs 27,426.16 crore involved in this Rs 922.58 crore was realised and 331 persons were detained.
In Andhra Pradesh, 490 fake GST bill cases were registered and nine people were arrested and Rs 386 crore was realised during this period.
In Andhra Pradesh, 91 fraudulent cases of GST registration by misusing the PAN and Aadhaar details of others to claim ITC were found and three people were arrested. A sum of Rs 5.53 crore was realised from them.
The tax authorities found that some GST-registered businesses were issuing fake GST bills or fake GST invoices without actually supplying goods or services.
This was done to fraudulently claim the Input Tax Credit (ITC) available under GST which is designed to prevent the cascading of taxes as it allows the recipient of goods and services to claim Input Tax Credit for taxes already paid by suppliers.
