No more GST, Income Tax evasion? Big warning for tax evaders from Modi government!

In a bid to ensure that no tax-evader go scot free, Modi government has directed tax officials to match GST data and income tax (I-T) returns of the taxpayers to scale up scrutiny. Taxmen have been told to scan GST and Income Tax returns to trace tax-evaders, according to a report in IANS.

The government has also asked tax officials to advise various entities to pay taxes before a notice from the department reaches them. This has been done in the government's drive to mop up the maximum revenue in the remaining months of the current fiscal, the report added. "The officials were told to get into a campaign mode to recover past dues," an official said.

Details of high-level meeting

- In a high-level meeting, tax officers were on Friday exhorted to achieve targets for both direct taxes and GST. A Finance Ministry source said that while total GST collection target in the remaining period of the fiscal 2019-20 is Rs 4.55 lakh crore, the annual direct tax collection target remains fixed at Rs 13.5 lakh crore.

- "Direction were given to officers to put forward special efforts to identify and book tax evaders through data analytics and information sharing between direct and indirect tax departments," an official source said.

- The high-level meeting was chaired by Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey and attended by GST officials and board members of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Indirect taxes and Customs (CBIC).

Tax evasion: What GST council is doing?

In an attempt to prevent tax evasion, the GST Council in its meeting on Wednesday lowered the limit to input tax credit (ITC) outgo from 20 per cent to 10 per cent before invoices are uploaded on the GST systems. The GST officials have been directed to initiate stern actions against willful tax evaders and those using fake invoices or fake E-way bills.