Personal QR codes used to evade GST

In a recent crackdown, the state Goods and Services Tax (GST) department uncovered substantial tax evasion across various eateries and ice cream parlours in Gujarat.

The raid revealed that Rs. 30 crore worth of ice creams, Rs. 6.75 crore of bhajiyas (fritters), and Rs. 4 crore of pizzas were sold without proper billing. This discovery is part of a broader investigation that has detected Rs. 370 crore in tax evasion by small business in the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment in merely past six months.

Businesses with annual turnovers exceeding Rs. 40 lakh for goods and Rs. 20 lakh for services must register for GST and pay taxes on their sales.

However, many businesses were found to be hiding their actual sales to avoid paying these taxes.

A senior SGST official explained, “Many businesses accepted cash payments and didn’t record them in their account books to show lower turnover and evade taxes. Others deposited money into the accounts of different people using QR codes to hid the transactions.”

Some businesses even collected GST from customers but did not pass it on to the govt, added the official. Additionally, they used billing software to generate and later erase transactions, often with the help of software developers. The SGST department has conducted raids on various establishments. Over 300 individuals have been implicated, and necessary actions are being taken against the involved business owners.

Source: The Times of India