The Commercial Tax Department raided the residence and office of a GST tax auditor in Davangere and Bengaluru and busted a Input Tax Credit (ITC) scam. Following the raids, the Ramamurthy Nagar police registered an FIR and arrested Veerabhadra from Davangere.
The auditor used to collect money from registered GST payers under the guise of tax, but did not pay it to the department. Instead, he fraudulently claimed ITC towards the tax liabilities without the knowledge of the taxpayers, cheating them and causing loss to the State exchequer. The department busted the ring while investigating taxpayers with excess ITC claims.
The Commercial Tax Department has said field Intelligence data and the probe have revealed that the auditor duped 12 taxpayers resulting in excess ITC claims worth ₹10 crore. The department officers till date have succeeded in recovering ₹5.31 crore from business entities concerned.
The department has advised to exercise due care and diligence while paying liabilities through third persons and to effectively utilise the GST help desk to safeguard themselves.
