Two fake firms ‘evaded’ ₹20 crore in GST

The commercial taxes department in Patna has detected two fake firms that claimed a false input tax credit (ITC) and evaded around ₹20 crore tax by flouting rules of goods and services taxes

The commercial taxes department in Patna has detected two fake firms that claimed a false input tax credit (ITC) and evaded around ₹20 crore tax by flouting rules of goods and services taxes.

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On Saturday, during a raid by the commercial taxes department, addresses of the two firms, submitted as their principal place of business in Patna and Munger, were found to be fake.

Commissioner and secretary, commercial taxes, Dr Pratima said the two firms claiming to be dealing in mustard oil and oilseeds are suspected to be shell companies that falsely claimed huge sales in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The commissioner said the firms had claimed to have done business worth ₹400 crore over the last few years.

“There are businessmen involved in this clandestine trade and tax evasion, who were [purportedly] supplying mustard oil to mills. They were claiming false ITC and flouting other GST rules. We are carrying out further investigation to track these fake dealers,” the commissioner said.

In the last month, the commercial taxes department has searched and raided many firms dealing in marbles, edible items, iron and steel in the state revealing tax evasion in crores of rupees. The department has been selecting suspicious firms through data analytics and human intelligence to create their 360-degree profile.