1/ 🚨 Unjust Prosecution Alert! The Indian Income Tax Department tried to prosecute an innocent man for a small mistake of non-filing of return due to poor health and missing photocopies.
2/ Suresh Kumar Agarwal faced criminal charges for a 17-month delay in filing his tax return (AY 2013-14).
His defense?
The delay was due to death and missing photocopies of documents. Yet, the IT Department was hell-bent on prosecuting him! #InnocentTaxpayer#IndianTaxSystem
3/ Fortunately, the court saw reason! It ruled that penalties under section 271(1)(a) of the IT Act are quasi-criminal in nature and mens rea (criminal intent) must be established before a penalty can be imposed. #JusticePrevails#FairTaxSystem
4/ The court further held that since Agarwal had already deposited the tax and interest, no sentence could be imposed unless mens rea was established.
The ITO extending the time for filing the return after levying interest implied satisfaction with the grounds for delay. #ReasonableCourt
5/ The entire criminal proceedings were quashed, saving an innocent man from an unjust fate.
But the question remains: why did the IT Department try to penalize someone for a small mistake rather than helping them rectify it? #IndianTaxSystemNeedsReform#SupportTaxpayers
6/ Let's raise our voice against such unfair treatment and stand up for innocent taxpayers who face undue harassment from the authorities.
Industrialists, who had been asking GST departments to take action against rising menace of bogus billing, have welcomed the central government’s move on holding special all-India drive to detect suspicious and fake companies registered under GST.
The drive will be executed by the GST authorities and will run for a period of two months from May 16 till July 15.
Key Points of CBIC's Automated Return Scrutiny Module (ARSM) for GST returns
The CBIC has rolled out an Automated Return Scrutiny Module (ARSM) for GST returns. Learn more about this new tool and how it can help improve GST compliance in India
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has rolled out an Automated Return Scrutiny Module (ARSM) for GST returns.
The ARSM is a non-intrusive means of compliance verification that allows tax officers to scrutinize GST returns of Centre Administered Taxpayers (CATs) selected on the basis of data analytics and risks identified by the system.
Karnataka High Court quashes Rs. 21,000 Crores SCN to Gameskraft.
On May 12, 2023, the Karnataka High Court quashed a show cause notice (SCN) issued by the Directorate General of Goods & Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) to online gaming platform Gameskraft Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
The SCN had demanded Rs. 21,000 crore in GST from Gameskraft for the period between 2017 and 2022.
The court held that the DGGI had not followed the correct procedure in issuing the SCN. The court also held that the DGGI had not provided any evidence to support its claim that Gameskraft was liable for GST.
To boost GST compliance, Govt lowers B2B e-invoice threshold
In two significant measures to curb tax evasion and increase compliance under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the government has decided to lower the threshold for businesses to generate e-invoice for business-to-business (B2B) transactions to Rs 5 crore from Rs 10 crore
and has rolled out the automated return scrutiny module for GST returns in a backend application for central tax officers.
GST Dept prescribes Time Bar on Scrutiny of GST Annual Returns for Taxpayers in Delhi
The Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi has recently issued a circular on time-barring Scrutiny of GST Returns of Delhi taxpayers for the Financial Years 2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20.
Notably, to improve taxpayer services and compliance in India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has directed the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) to introduce automated Goods and Services Tax return scrutiny by this week.
The Government of India claimed achieving the highest monthly collection of gross GST of Rs 1,87,035 crore in April 2023, which was higher than the collections of Rs 1,67,540 crore in April 2022.
The year-on-year (YoY) growth, however, was quite muted. Absolute collections grew by Rs 19,495 crore, whereas the GST collections had increased by Rs 27,833 crore in April 2022. Growth at 11.64 per cent was also lower than 19.92 per cent in April 2022.