GST officers detect Rs 1.95 trillion tax evasion in Apr-Jan FY25

According to data presented in the Lok Sabha, the total number of GST evasion cases detected by central government officers over the past five years stood at 86,711, with a cumulative detection of over Rs 6.79 trillion.

In the ongoing fiscal year (until January 2025), authorities detected 25,397 cases of tax evasion amounting to Rs 1,94,938 crore.

During this period, voluntary tax deposits of Rs 21,520 crore were made in connection with these cases.

The data also revealed that the current fiscal year recorded 13,018 cases of Input Tax Credit (ITC) fraud, involving Rs46,472 crore, with voluntary deposits of Rs2,211 crore.

The GST Investigation Wing's data showed that in the 2023-24 fiscal year, officials detected 20,582 cases of tax evasion amounting to Rs 2.30 trillion.

In previous years, GST evasion detection stood at Rs1.32 trillion in 2022-23, Rs73,238 crore in 2021-22, and Rs49,384 crore in 2020-21.

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the House that the Central Government and GSTN have undertaken various measures to curb tax evasion and enhance compliance.

These include providing intelligence inputs, identifying fraudulent registrations, monitoring suspicious e-way bill activities, scrutinising returns, and selecting taxpayers for audits based on risk parameters.

Chaudhary said these measures have helped preserve revenue and catch tax evaders.

"The government has also initiated projects such as 'Project Anveshan' (Analytics, Verification, Shortlisting of Anomalies), which employs advanced technologies like Facial Recognition Systems (FRS) and e-way bill data to generate intelligence reports and identify GSTINs prone to fraudulent activities," he added.