Decriminalising certain offences under GST on cards

New Delhi, September 28

The government is working on decriminalisation of certain offences under GST by raising the threshold limit for launching prosecution and also lowering charges for compounding of offence, an official said on Wednesday.

Currently, the law provides for launching prosecution against offenders in cases where the amount of Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion or misuse of input tax credit is more than Rs 5 crore.

“We are working on making the provision under the GST Act for prosecution simpler and friendly for taxpayers. We have Section 132 under the CGST Act which criminalises illegal credit for GST evasion. The threshold level (for launching prosecution) are being reconsidered,” Finance Ministry Additional Secretary (Revenue) Vivek Aggarwal said at an Assocham event here.

Launching of prosecution by taxmen means commencement of legal proceedings against the offender.

The compounding charges for offences under GST would also be lowered so that taxpayers are encouraged to compound their offences instead of going into litigation. — PTI

Current provisions

• Currently, the law provides for launching prosecution against offenders in cases where the amount of GST evasion or misuse of input tax credit is more than Rs 5 crore
• The compounding charges for offences under GST would also be lowered so that taxpayers are encouraged to compound their offences instead of going into litigation