Tax defaulters new worry for Delhi govt

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Categories: GST Recent News, News

Of the 15,000 taxpayers registered with the government under GST, whose returns were analysed by the government, 10,800 or over two-third paid either lower tax or no tax between January and March this year. This, the government said, was despite taxpayers collecting tax from people as part of payments. The government has now sent notices to all defaulters to clear dues within 15 days, and has said that evaluation of 7 lakh companies registered under GST will be done in the future.

Of the defaulting companies, the top sector was properties, leasing and rental followed by miscellaneous services. Delhi has faced a significant shortfall in GST and VAT collection since the pandemic hit. The assessment of collections between January and March done recently, however, has revealed that collections had dipped by Rs 2,015 crore. In 2019, the government collected Rs 5,792 crore as tax returns between January and March, which dipped to Rs 3,777 crore this year.

“Around 15,000 taxpayers were analysed and nearly 970 taxpayers have not filed returns for 2020-21 from January to March at all. The Delhi government has also found that this year, nearly 10,800 companies paid lesser or zero tax from January to March. Taking cognizance of these findings, the Delhi government has prepared a list of defaulters… Delhi has till now evaluated 15,000 companies but in the future, evaluation of 7 lakh companies registered under GST will be done. The Delhi government will take strict action against all the defaulters after the evaluation,” a statement issued by the government said.

Since March, government revenue has been hit, but has seen an upward tick. In April, the government got Rs 240 crore, followed by Rs 494 crore in May, Rs 762 crore in June and Rs 1,300 crore in July. However, these have been well below what the city was bringing in last year.

In July 2019, the city got Rs 3,500 crore in collections. The year before that, collection was Rs 4,078 crore. The government has also issued notices to 111 liquor companies that did not pay VAT between January and March.

“I appeal to all those who have not deposited the full tax to immediately deposit the amount. This is public money which the companies have collected from the people but did not deposit to the government. The Delhi government will take stringent actions against the companies who will not deposit the full amount of tax,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the finance minister, said. A government spokesperson said two defaulting companies were identified and asked to pay Rs 10 crore as pending amount last week. “The department is also analysing the tax payment profile of such taxpayers along with their overall tax profile in the previous quarters,” the spokesperson said.

The state trade and taxes department also conducted search operations against defaulters, including marble and granite companies and bulk taxpayers, last week to collect Rs 20.70 lakh as tax from them.

“In one case, the company’s office was sealed. In the second case, the company’s papers were confiscated. The Delhi government also acted against movement of goods without carrying e-way bills. From June 23, around 140 vehicles have been detained and tax and penalty collected up to approximately Rs 1 crore,” the statement said.

Read More at: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/tax-defaulters-new-worry-for-delhi-govt-6539735/