85% Rise in the Number of Assessees Who Denied GSTR Filing

When the Goods and services tax (GST) regime was made on July 1, 2017, the commercial tax department recognized an 85% rise in the number of assessees who denied filing the returns.

The council also mentioned a rise in the number of cases in which tax left still not have been furnished from the last 4 years. The information tabled through the state in between the ongoing assembly session displayed that the number of tax theft cases has indeed risen since 2017-2018.

The chief minister Pramod Sawant stated that the finance portfolio has shown the information on the tax defaulters and theft, answering the question through Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte. “Regular assessment of non-filers and defaulters is undertaken by this department to assess and recover the dues. The assessment up to 2016-2017 has been completed and the assessment for 2017-2018 is in progress, declared Sawant through the notice.”

The commercial tax council has been enrolled in 59 cases of tax theft in the present fiscal year for the theft in the previous FY. So to recover dues and obtain the much-needed revenue for the stated Sawant urged that the council determine the primary tax defaulters as well as to implement the search and seizure operations.

As per the details, the number of assessees who were unable to file the returns stands at 5,096 in 2017-18, however, the following has risen to 6,003 in 2019-20 and 9,459 in 2020-21. Similar to that the number of taxpayer cases in which the tax was not furnished has come at 7,259 in 2017-18, rose to 8,242 in 2019-20, and has been sat at 7,745 cases in 2020-21.

According to the GST guidelines, the refusal to furnish the return for more than 6 months has to lead to the cancellation of the GST registration Get to know easy steps for cancellation of GST registration online on GST portal of migrated taxpayers. We included original screenshots for easy understanding. Sawant declared that the reminders have been sent to these assessees on regular grounds.

In January 2021 the council of the commercial tax dept decided to take action with respect to the 77 defaulting firms from which the amount of Rs 120 crore was recoverable via tax interest and penalty. All these companies under the default were the sole proprietorships, partnership firms, private companies, etc.