CBIC is engaged on biometric authentication of dangerous entities beneath GST because it appears to be like to crack down on fraudsters who’re misusing the PAN and Aadhaar of different individuals to acquire GST registration, CBIC chief Vivek Johri stated.
Johri additional stated that the tax authorities are additionally discussing some extra tightening in the GST return filing system to restrict the scope of claiming Input Tax Credit (ITC), when taxes haven’t been paid by suppliers in the availability chain.
The biometric authentication of authorised representatives or administrators or companions of an organization shall be made for brand spanking new registration purposes and current companies registered beneath Goods and Services Tax (GST) if tax officers have a suspicion that the entities are being arrange solely to fraudulently declare ITC.
Also, geo-tagging of all entities is being deliberate by the officers of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to authenticate that the handle offered throughout GST registration is the place from the place the entity operates, Johri instructed reporters.
A pilot on biometric authentication and geo-tagging is already underway in a few states, and relying on the outcomes and analysis of digital infrastructure necessities, the undertaking shall be launched pan India.
“We are attempting to see how we are able to tighten the system additional. We have been utilizing OTP-based authentication earlier. Now, we’re going to go in for biometric authentication additionally.
Which would imply that in suspicious circumstances, individuals shall be requested to go to an Aadhaar centre to have their biometrics verified,” Johri stated.
The CBIC chief additional stated that through the ongoing drive towards fake registration, GST officers have recognized round 12,500 bogus entities, which had been used to say fake ITC and defraud the exchequer.
Johri stated there are specific places the place fake entities are rampant, like Delhi, Haryana, and Rajasthan. Certain components of Gujarat, Noida, Kolkata, Assam, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra even have fake companies with GST registration.
Sectors, in which fake entities are, embody steel or plastic scrap and waste paper.
“We are additionally discovering that it’s being generated for providers. So, manpower providers and promoting providers have cases of fake billing,” Johri added.
With regard to controlling fake ITC claims, Johri stated the tax authorities have tightened the system however there’s nonetheless some latitude for taxpayers to edit how a lot ITC they’ll be capable of declare in GSTR-2A.
That is there as a result of considerations had been raised by commerce the provider does not add invoices on time, and there are some invoices for which they’ve already made the cost, however they don’t seem to be capable of take credit score as a result of they don’t seem to be uploaded, he added.
“We have allowed some editing facilities. We will see how we can tighten that so that the scope for passing certain ITC is reduced,” Johri added.
The GST Council, comprising finance ministers of the Centre and states, has already taken plenty of steps, together with the sequential filing of month-to-month returns, to curb fake ITC in the system.
(With PTI inputs)
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