Government Expected To Recover Rs 50,000 Crore In Evaded Taxes

The Indian government hopes to recover Rs 50,000 crore in GST (goods and services tax) evasion in FY24. This amount is more than twice of what was recovered in FY23 and could represent the largest yearly tax collection ever, according to a report by Business Standard.

The GST authorities have discovered evasions of Rs 1.36 lakh crore in FY24, and they have already recovered Rs 14,108 crore of this. A Rs 1.01 trillion evasion was found in FY23, leading to a Rs 21,000 crore recovery.

According to the research, a sizeable percentage of this recovery is anticipated to come from fraudulent input tax credit claims made by insurance businesses, GST payments made on services provided by expatriates under the reverse charge process, illegal tobacco product certifications, and real estate deals.

In recent months, the GST Departments have bombarded businesses with letters to comply with tax obligations. The extended scope for Online Information Database Access and Retrieval (OIDAR) service providers, taxes on the salaries of MNC's expatriate personnel, and taxes on online gaming and cryptocurrency are a few of these.

Gaming business Delta Corp. is one of many who received such letters. It was notified on September 25 that there was a Rs 11,140 crore tax shortfall, while letters for Rs 5,682 crore were sent to its subsidiaries. The alleged tax payment gap covered the time frame from July 2017 to March 2022.

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Hyderabad, sent letters in response to the demand; the amounts owed are as follows: Delta Corp. owes about Rs 11,140 crore; Highstreet Cruises and Entertainment, a subsidiary, owes approximately Rs 3,290 crore; and Delta Pleasure Cruise Company, a subsidiary, owes approximately Rs 1,766 crore.

The Bombay High Court offered some respite on 23 October when it ordered officials to postpone taking any further action until after its hearing on the case was concluded.

Around 1,000 multinational corporations (MNCs) with operations in India have already been served with tax requests related to an 18 per cent tax on wages and benefits given to foreign expats by the parent company. This tax demand was sent out earlier on 18 October.