The commercial tax department has collected Rs 66 crores from the GST defaulters in the last fortnight as part of its ongoing enforcement drive.

The tax officials have found during the drive that big players including several commercial malls have collected tax from consumers but failed to remit the money to the government.

“It is a serious offence that the traders have collected tax but not handed over the same to the government. We are finding such cases and initiating action against the defaulters,” said an official from the commercial tax department.

Last week, the enforcement squad conducted a surprise inspection at a mall and found that the service provider has defaulted on remitting tax to the government to the tune of Rs 6.77 crore. The mall owner had rented out 288 property units and collected at 18 % GST amounting to Rs 6.77 crore between December 2017 and April 2018, but did not remit the same amount to the government. A department communique said, the squad has found 33 such cases amounting to Rs 66.02 crore in the last two weeks.

Tasked with mopping up revenues to match up to the needs of the new JD(S)-Congress coalition government, which has promised to waive farm loans to the tune of Rs.1.14 lakh crore, the commercial tax is feeling the pressure as the GST collections are falling month-on-month. The department collected Rs 3,3990 crore through SGST (state component of GST) in April, while the collection dipped to Rs 2,697 crore in May and the falling revenues have prompted the officials to go on the enforcement drive.

While 20th of every month is the last date for the registered dealers to remit the tax collected, the commercial tax commissioner Srikar MS said a thorough review of the non-filers of tax returns is being taken up.

“Last date for filing GSRT3B (tax returns) for the month of May is 20th June…Pay tax due and file returns on time to avoid notices and action as per law…” the commissioner tweeted.

Source: Times of India

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