GST Fake Registration Special Campaign: 1000 Fraud GST Registration discovered in first week of drive

In the first week of a combined drive, central and state goods and services tax officers discovered around 10,000 bogus GST registrations. According to persons with knowledge of the situation, officials are doing door-to-door physical verification of addresses before taking any action. The effort to combat fake invoices and registration began on May 15 and will continue through July 15.

“We have detected about 10,000 fake GST registrations in the first week of the drive,” a senior official said.

Officials discovered fake power bills, property tax receipts, and rent agreements being used as proof of primary place of business to get GST registration in many cases.

The amount of fictitious input tax credit has yet to be determined. “It is premature to assess numbers at this time,” the spokesman said, adding that the final figures will be available once the campaign concludes.

GST Network, which identifies potentially fraudulent GSTINs for state and national tax authorities, chose the physical verification instances based on data analytics and risk factors.

However, small-scale industry trade organisations claim this might be an issue for smaller businesses that use co-working facilities.