Firms buying fake bills under probe ambit

Chandigarh, April 20

Expanding the scope of investigation in the GST fake billing scam, the Excise and Taxation Department has now brought companies who were buying fake bills into the ambit of its investigation.

Raids were conducted on the premises of five companies in Mandi Gobindgarh and Fatehgarh Sahib two days ago by special teams led by Kumar Saurabh Raj, Additional Commissioner, State Taxes. The transactions of these firms - Haryana Ispat, Bhawani Industries, Vikas Steel Corporation, Salasar Castings and Sona Castings- were checked and related documents were taken into possession. The teams have also impounded central processing units, data storage devices and mobile phones, which contained business related data, for examination.

Kumar Saurabh Raj said they had found that these companies were claiming input tax credit after making bogus purchases from unscrupulous dealers. “Invoices were being received without actual movement of goods. The tax shown to have been paid on these bogus invoices has been used to adjust the output tax liability,” he said, adding that the evasion of tax came to light after scrutiny of returns filed by the firms showed heavy purchases of iron and steel. — TNS