New Delhi: The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has arrested one person for allegedly dealing in fake invoices that are used to claim tax credits wrongfully, a finance ministry official said on Sunday.
The person who controls several firms was arrested on Wednesday from Osmanabad in Maharashtra and has been remanded to judicial custody till 2 November, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The total amount of questionable tax credits involved in the case is over ₹52 crores, said the official.
One of the firms controlled by the individual had four GST registration numbers and was shown to be engaged in civil work such as building roads, said the official. This is the second arrest by GST authorities disclosed in the last three days, indicating that enforcement activities are gathering momentum. On Friday, the government had said it had unearthed a fake invoice racket involving 115 firms.
The official said that the government was considering placing firms with questionable transactions under ‘risky category’ and block their tax refunds. The government has already tightened procedures and has scaled up use of technology to identify businesses that resort to fraudulent practices. This includes implementing a process of e-invoicing and Aadhaar authentication for GST registration.
