Govt allows ED to share data with GSTN

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New Delhi, July 9

The government has amended rules under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to allow the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to share data with the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), officials said today.

They said the decision had been taken to help the ED recover evaded revenue on account of the GST through money laundering.

The GSTN handles the technology backbone of the indirect tax regime and is the repository of all GST-related information, including return, tax filing and other compliances.

According to the notification, a copy of which is with The Tribune, issued by the Ministry of Finance amending the provisions of the PMLA, 2002, the GSTN has been included in the list of entities with which the central enforcement agency will share information.

Tax experts are of the view that amending the rules to bring the GSTN under the PMLA will enable a legal framework under which high-value tax offenders can be traced, apprehended and made liable to pay due taxes.

At present, the GST Act under Section 158 gives power to disclose information it has with regard to any prosecution under the IPC and even under any other law in force for the time being. However, there was no corresponding power under the PMLA to disclose information to the GSTN unless notified under Section 66(1)(ii) of PMLA. With the current notification, GSTN has now been included in the list.

In November last year, the government had allowed the ED to share information about economic offenders with 15 more agencies, including SFIO, CCI and NIA. Following that notification, the ED, which deals primarily with cases of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws, was allowed to share data with 25 agencies, including the 10 specified earlier.

The list also includes CBI, RBI, Sebi, IRDAI, Intelligence Bureau, and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), among others. With the addition of the GSTN, the list of entities has now gone up to 26.

To enable recovery

• The decision has been taken to help the Enforcement Directorate recover evaded revenue on account of the goods and services tax through money laundering
• In November, the government had allowed the ED to share information about economic offenders with 15 more agencies