An irregular availment of ITC to the tune of Rs. 120.58 crore detected by DGGI Bhubaneshwar Zonal Unit

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An irregular availment of ITC to the tune of Rs. 120.58 crore detected by DGGI Bhubaneshwar Zonal Unit

 

 

Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
North Block, New Delhi-110001
Tel. No.: +91-11-23092849, Fax : +91-11-23092890
E-mail : ajit.m@gov.in

M. Ajit Kumar, Chairman

D.O.No.81/CH(IC)/2020

Date: 02nd August 2021

The week begins with positive news of healthy all-India GST collection figures. This indicates a revival of economic activity after the rigours of the wide spread lockdown in May, 2021. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of July, 2021, is back to being above Rupees one lakh ten thousand crore mark. This is the result of a vibrant resurgence by trade and industry coupled with a nudge by the tax administrations of the Centre and States. I am sure that your continued positive engagement with trade and industry would ensure better compliance by them in the coming months also.

The month also saw government continuing proactively to pursue trade facilitation measures with a view to reduce the compliance burden on GST and Customs taxpayers and enhance the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB). Amendments have been made in the CGST Act, 2017, to facilitate taxpayers with annual aggregate turnover (AATO) upto Rs. 5 crore so that they would not be required to file the reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C whereas those with AATO above Rs. 5 crore would be able to self-certify the reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C. Further, filing of annual returns (FORM GSTR-9/9A) has been waived for taxpayers having AATO upto Rs. 2 crore for FY 2020-21.

On the Customs side, all AEO-T1 entities certified on or after 01st April 2019 will have their certificate auto-renewed in the system without an end date from 1st August, 2021 as laid out in Circular No. 18/2021- Customs dated 31st July, 2021. This process will be based on a simplified web based single-page Annual Self-Declaration.

Both these measures should come as a huge relief for compliant tax payers.

To further accelerate its EoDB initiatives, CBIC had internally constituted two Study Groups, one each for GST and Customs, on 2nd July, 2021 under Shri D. P. Nagendra Kumar, PCC, Bengaluru CGST Zone and Shri Surjit Bhujabal, CC, Customs, Delhi (Prey) respectively. They were mandated to suggest measures for revenue augmentation and expansion of tax base while enhancing EoDB with the use of IT and further reducing compliance burden. The Study Groups have submitted their report to the Board. I congratulate members of both the Groups for completing their work in the given time.

While we have given a huge push for trade facilitation and for reducing the compliance burden, efforts of officials in maintaining vigilance and checking GST and Customs duty evasion and preventing smuggling are equally noteworthy.

DGGI Bhubaneshwar Zonal Unit has detected irregular availment of ITC to the tune of Rs. 120.58 crore by a company engaged in constructing railway lines on Build Own Operate and Transfer model. During investigation, the company accepted the lapse and reversed the entire amount of wrongful ITC to the extent of Rs. 120.58 crore. CGST Ghaziabad Commissionerate detected GST fraud with a taxable value of about Rs. 115.25 crore. The availment and utilization of fake ITC in the case was to the tune of Rs. 17.58 crore approximately. Officers of DGGI, Gurugram Zonal Unit and DGGI, Bengaluru Zonal Unit, on analysis of the data available, including that on the EWB portal and BIFA, etc., have detected cases of firms availing fake ITC and passing on the same without supply and receipt of goods. The total amount of fake ITC availed and passed on is Rs. 127 crore and Rs. 42.7 crore respectively. Further investigations are in progress.

DRI, Silchar and Agartala Regional Unit, acting on an intelligence provided by the DRI Guwahati Zonal Unit, intercepted and rummaged a vehicle from which 270 Kgs of Cannabis was seized and one person arrested. DRI Agartala Regional Unit along with personnel from Assam Rifles and Tripura State Police, in an operation at Urabari, Sidhai District, West Tripura recovered 743.5 Kgs. of Ganja, concealed in 41 drums buried in the ground. The Imphal Customs (Prey.) Division, acting on intelligence, intercepted a truck at Mantripukri, Imphal (East), and recovered 8.55 Kgs of Brown Sugar (Heroin) concealed in the truck.

DRI, Mumbai Zonal Unit, acting on intelligence, uncovered a syndicate involved in export of highly overvalued goods to the tune of Rs. 1960 crore with an intention to avail drawback of about Rs. 52 crore fraudulently. Two persons have been placed under arrest.

On the arrears recovery front, Jodhpur Customs Preventive Commissionerate were able to realise an amount of around Rs. 12 crore towards differential Safeguard duty and GST after finalizing provisional assessments and also proactively convincing the importer for payment of remaining tax liability.

My congratulations to all the formations and officials who affected these cases. They should quickly complete investigations and ensure prosecution of evaders wherever found fit and recovery of dues.

On the HR side, 25 Administrative Officers (Customs) have been promoted to the grade of Chief Accounts Officer (Customs), Group `A% General Central Service (Ministerial), under CBIC on regular basis on 31′ July, 2021. My congratulations and best wishes to all these officers on their promotion.

DGPM had been made the Cadre Controlling Authority (CCA) for Group ‘B’ and Group ‘C’ posts of Directorates. Accordingly, the process of amending Recruitment Rules of Directorates has been initiated. The first such RR in the series, that of Stenographer Grade I in Directorates, has been approved by the Ministry and will be notified shortly.

On the welfare side, proposals from DGHRD relating to ex-gratia financial assistance of Rs. 85 lakh to 10 families of departmental employees who died in harness, including deaths due to Covid-19, were approved. I expect that all proposals are processed and disbursed on priority by the DGHRD and the field formations.

The GST and Central Excise (Appeals-II) Commissionerate, Chennai, led by Commissioner, Shri P. Anand Kumar, along with the Water Resource Department of PWD, Tamil Nadu, have under the Swachh Bharat Action Plan 2020-21, restored and developed an eco-friendly park on the banks of Korattur lake in two phases. Congratulations to all concerned for this eco-friendly initiative.

In conclusion, I wish you and your family members good health and cheer.

Yours sincerely

(M. Ajit Kumar)

To,

All Officers and Staff of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs

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