Soon, evading GST may become nearly impossible

GST Network (GSTN) is developing IT tools to help government crack down on evaders as well as those who have stopped filing returns.Even as returns are not being matched currently, GSTN is testing a tool for tax officers at the Centre and at the state level to enable them to match their GSTR-1, which is the first return, with GSTR 3B with ease. In addition, a dashboard is planned for tax officers and taxpayers, similar to the one for income tax, where the details of each GST payer is available along with the tax credits and other informations.Separately, an alert is planned to be sent to those who have stopped filing returns, to enable them to comply with the rules. Even in case of income tax, the government is pushing the “stop filers” to file returns to ensure that the tax net is widened and taxes are adequately collected, sources told TOI. Low compliance has been cited as a concern by several state finance ministers, blaming it for shortfall compared to the revenue projection based on historical trends.A separate exercise is being initiated to find out why some businesses are habitual late filers. “While their number is not significant, but there are cases where the taxpayer has filed all the 11 returns (since GST launch last July) after the deadline,” said an officer. Over the next few days, GSTN will write to some of these habitual late filers to find out the reasons and also assess if there was a need to improve the system.Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi, who heads the group of ministers of IT issues, has suggested that GSTN undertake an analysis to find out if those filing late have tax liability or are those who file “zero returns”. “Although the number of such filers is not high, the number seems to be going up,” said a source.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2v0tcfX