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GST Evasion: Centre, State Tax Officers To Share Taxpayers Information To Tighten Enforcement

Currently, state tax officials administer and control 90 percent of the assessees below Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover.

A worker holds his Goods and Services Tax papers in his store at a wholesale market in the Old Delhi area of Delhi, India (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)  
A worker holds his Goods and Services Tax papers in his store at a wholesale market in the Old Delhi area of Delhi, India (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)  

Central and state tax officers will share information about taxpayers for enforcement action as the government looks to tighten enforcement measures to check Goods and Services Tax evasion.

"Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs launches application for sharing information between Centre and State for targeted enforcement action against GST evasion. A big leap in intelligence sharing and cooperative federalism #GST," CBIC said in a tweet.

Currently, state tax officials administer and control 90 percent of the assessees below Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover, and the remaining 10 percent is with the central tax officers. For those assessees with an annual turnover of over Rs 1.5 crore, the Centre and states share control in 50:50 ratio.

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To plug leakage, the central and state government officials had last month decided to scrutinise GST refund claims more diligently, compulsorily investigate all fake claims and step up coordination between income-tax and GST authorities. It was also decided that GST Network, CBIC and Central Board of Direct Taxes will share data on a quarterly basis for early identification and checking of fraud cases.

Following delay in payment of GST compensation to states by the Centre due to lower-than-expected revenue collection the authorities have decided to step up enforcement actions and data exchange.