Penal action likely for fake GST bills

New Delhi: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) council is likely to consider penal measures against the entities involved in the fake GST invoice racket to check evasion at its next meeting on July 11, officials said. These measures could include an increase in penalty, mandatory physical verification of premises and suspension of GST registration for repeat offenders, they said.

"We are thinking of some other measures and we will take them through the due process of the law committee and GST Council," Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) chairman Vivek Johri told media persons on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry event, without divulging any further details about the measures.

He said that the board has zeroed in on 60,000 suspicious GST registrations, out of which physical verification of about 40,000 had already been done.

Authorities have detected about 10,000 fake GST registrations and cases of wrongfully availing input tax credit worth ₹15,000 crore, Johri said, adding that the number excluded the recent crackdown on rackets in Noida and Indore.

Officials from the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence said the crackdown helped in detection of 6,000 more fake GST registrations and additional cases of fake input tax credit of ₹ 15,000 crore, on which the probe is still on.