Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Sabka Vikas Yojana is received well by the taxpayers due to its amnesty on tax dues, but errors and mismatches have led to the government blocking GST refunds to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore. Due to mismatch in GST filings and returns, credits worth Rs 40,000 crore has been blocked on the directive of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), CNBC TV18 reported citing CBIC Chairman John Joseph. More than 2,000 companies are under the Income Tax Department scanner for reporting inaccurate GST returns. Their credits (GSTR 2A and GSTR 3B) were blocked on January 24, the report added.

The board has further suggested to survey the operations of companies and “catch the suppliers” for not uploading the correct invoices with the government. Meanwhile, the government is expected to fall short of its tax collections estimated in last year’s budget. The tax department is now looking to check evasion based on false filings and plug revenue leakages. In December, the GST Council had lowered the amount of credit that can be availed to 10 per cent from 20 per cent. This was valid if invoices or debit notes were not reflected in GSTR-2A, GSTR-3B returns. That was the second such cut after it capped it at 20 per cent in October last year.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in December recorded an increase of 9 per cent on-year to Rs 1,03,184 crore indicating a marginal rise in consumption. The total number of tax returns filed from November 2019 till December 2019 was 81.21 lakh. November and December saw the collection rise above Rs 1 lakh crore per month target, on the back of steps taken to increase compliance and check evasion. A statement by the finance ministry said that field officers were directed to cancel the registration and block input tax credit for defaulters. 

Source : PTI