GST officers use data analytics to detect evasion ₹1 lakh cr in last fiscal

The Directorate of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has stepped up efforts to catch evasion at the initial stage itself so that compliance improves. 

Speaking to PTI, the official said, “We are using ‘end-to-end’ analytics for a sector and ‘gap analysis’ of the taxes paid in a supply chain to ascertain if the entire value chain is paying adequate GST or if there is a missing link.”

The data analysis includes comparisons of the tax payment profile of a particular sector vis a vis the erstwhile excise and service tax regime.

“Now that the GST system has stabilized, the effort is to further streamline it. We want to ascertain if all the sectors which are covered under GST are paying their due share of taxes,” the official added. 

After analysis, if the department finds that some changes are required in law or tariffs to check evasion by increasing compliance, then it would be presented before the Council for approval. 

The official said that if a sub-part of any sector is not paying taxes in the value chain and there is a case of evasion, enforcement action could be taken. 

He said that data analytics is a time taking process, but it is required to check GST evasion at the manufacturing stage itself as it will help revenue collection while ensuring that compliance improves, PTI reported. 

AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said DGGI has been empowered with numerous technology tools to identify high-risk sectors that are not capturing the true value addition in the entire supply chain leading to pilferage of taxes. 

GST evasion detection by tax officers almost doubled year-on-year to over ₹1.01 lakh crore in 2022-23 fiscal. A recovery of ₹21,000 crore was made by the officers of the DGGI.

The total number of Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion cases too had gone up with about 14,000 cases detected in 2022-23, up from 12,574 cases in 2021-22 and 12,596 cases in 2020-21.

(With PTI inputs)