As sectors such as online gaming, insurance and airlines, among others, grapple with a flurry of notices over evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST), a debate has ensued on the processes in place, especially the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect mismatches in payments.
In the previous financial year alone, AI was responsible for identifying GST mismatches to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore, of which the finance ministry has recovered Rs 15,000 crore so far, a senior ministry official told Moneycontrol.
Central tax officers are said to have sent around 33,000 GST notices so far to businesses for discrepancies in GST returns for the period pertaining to 2017-18 and 2018-19. The recent spike in the number of notices has sparked concerns over increased scrutiny of businesses. In fact, another senior government official confirmed that AI is primarily responsible for the increase in detection of tax evasions, leading to a higher number of notices.
While, the Centre has sent 71 show-cause notices to online gaming companies alone, involving GST evasions worth Rs 1.12 lakh crore in 2022-23 and the first seven months of 2023-24, as many as 15 insurance companies, including Bajaj Allianz, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, and HDFC Life Insurance are alleged to have evaded Rs 2,350 crore in GST so far. Other sectors such as aviation and shipping are also under the radar of tax authorities.
Read more at: moneycontrol
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