GST Department raids at B2C traders for alleged GST Evasion

The State goods and services tax (SGST) officials recently raided some business-to-consumer (B2C) traders selling a variety of products in 52 locations across the state.

It was discovered that traders of ceramics, scrap, mobile phones, cosmetics, food products, and those in the services sector such as hotels and restaurants, tour operators, coaching classes, and printing services were involved in Rs. 8 crore GST evasion.

Surat (20 locations), Vadodara (15 locations), Dang (5), Bhavnagar (5), Gandhinagar (3), Mehsana (3), and Rajkot (1) were the targets of the raids.

Documents and evidence relating to intra-state transactions were recovered by SGST officials from these premises.

Department officials discovered discrepancies between actual inventory and what was recorded. Documents seized revealed that these companies had fraudulently claimed input tax credits.

The SGST department has been researching market practises in a variety of industries. Tax evaders are identified as a result of this, and the department creates profiles based on system-based intelligence. The majority of the traders involved are business-to-consumer traders. This is in contrast to the common practise of business-to-business (B2B) entities illegally claiming input tax credit (ITC).