State Taxes Deptt intensifies drive against tax evasions across J&K

Jammu, Dec 23: Jammu and Kashmir State Taxes department constituted flying squads headed by senior officers to discourage tax evasion and ensure compliance within their purview at any time of the day to curb tax evasions within the mandate of Goods and Service Tax, Stamps Act and Motor Spirit Tax.

As per an order issued by Commissioner State Taxes, Dr Rashmi Singh, IAS, eight flying squads (four each for Jammu and Kashmir divisions) headed by senior officers of the department were constituted to oversee the ongoing enforcement drive.

The squads are also mandated to conduct market inspections to oversee the functioning of the department on the ground.

The department has imposed over Rs 60 lakh penalty on vehicles for not possessing proper documents required for transportation of goods in last 10 days during a special enforcement drive.

Officials said that day and night checks were carried out by all seven enforcement wings of the department across Jammu and Kashmir under the instructions of Commissioner of State Taxes, Dr Rashmi Singh.

The drives were closely monitored under the supervision of the Additional Commissioner, State Taxes Administration & Enforcement, Jammu, Namrita Dogra and Additional Commissioner State Taxes Administration & Enforcement, Kashmir Shakeel Maqbool.

As per the department’s spokesperson, Deputy Commissioners of Enforcement Wings constituted different teams headed by Assistant Commissioners or State Tax Officers (STO) for enforcement activities, with emphasis on checking against the conveyances carrying goods without proper tax invoices, e-way bills etc.

During the extensive enforcement drive, a total of 8387 vehicles were intercepted across Jammu & Kashmir and 132 cases of discrepancies like non-compliance of e-way Bill record, movement of goods with the cover of invoices, quantity mismatch, e-invoicing/ e waybill post interception of vehicle, fake GST number in the invoice were noticed during the physical inspections of these vehicles.

“Out of total cases, 117 cases have been finalized and a penalty amounting to Rs 63.59 lakh was imposed. 15 cases are still under the process of scrutiny,” the spokesperson said.

The officials added that illegal movement of commodities like iron scrap, mixed scrap, cement, bricks, footwear, hardware, bathroom accessories, TMT Bars, readymade garments, furniture, timber, E-auto rikshaws, shawls, marbles etc had been noticed in the non-compliant cases.

Moreover, during an extensive market check enforcement teams inspected 266 GSTIN-registered premises, and 70 dealers were found non-compliant regarding non-issuance of invoices, and non-specifying additional places of business. In addition to these 101 dealers who had crossed the registration threshold were found unregistered and action has been initiated against them under GST Act.

The department said that multiple QR codes linked with various accounts, not in the business name are also under scrutiny.