Tax raids across 7 cities reveal Rs 12 crore GST evasion in Uttarakhand

Officials blew the lid off the fraud that was going on for four years. Officials who checked the e-way bill of the vehicles came to know that vehicles were not crossing the toll plaza located on the route to the place shown in the e-way bill.

Rudrapur:Officials from as many as 16 teams of Uttarakhand State Tax Department on Thursday conducted raids in seven cities of the state in connection with the case of evasion of GST of bitumen and fuel oil under the guise of bogus billing from firms outside the state.

During raids, they detected GST evasion worth Rs 12 crore. Sources said GST worth Rs 1.33 crore was deposited on the spot by some firms. Earlier, there was a stir among traders due to the raid in cases of GST evasion. On the instructions of the State Tax Commissioner, 60 officers who comprised 16 teams launched the crackdown on locations in Dehradun, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Roorkee, Kashipur, Haldwani and Rudrapur.

Investigations revealed that firms adjusted their GST liability by taking advantage of bogus bills under the guise of bills of firms located outside Uttarakhand. Officials blew the lid off the fraud that was going on for four years. Officials who checked the e-way bill of the vehicles came to know that vehicles were not crossing the toll plaza located on the route to the place shown in the e-way bill.

A peek into the backwater chain of the firms revealed that the said firm did not exist or the registration had been cancelled by the department. Besides, many firms were trading goods which had never been purchased.

During the raid, the firms' documents, laptop computer and mobile phone were seized by the team from the spot. Several firms have deposited GST worth Rs 1.13 crore on the spot. the Tax Department officials will continue further crackdown against the institutions taking advantage of bogus billing or fake inputs.

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