Arrest under GST, Father Son arrested in case of fraudulent issuance of GST invoices, Central Tax, GST Delhi East Commissionerate arrested a Shahdara based father son-duo on 22.05.2018 in case of fraudulent issuance of Input Tax Credit invoices involving evasion of approximately Rs. 28 Crores relating to the Copper industry.
As per Section 132 of the CGST Act, issuance of an invoice or bill without the supply of goods and wrongful availment or utilization of Input Tax Credit is a cognizable and non-bailable offence if the amount involved is over Rs 5 Crores.
It is the first case of the arrest in Delhi, under the new tax regime that came into force on 1st July 2017.
Searches were conducted at several places during which various incriminating documents & evidence were found. The investigation that followed revealed the involvement of father & son. Both were arrested under Section 69(1) of CGST Act & have been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
Further investigations are underway and the quantum of evasion is likely to go up. Officers are not ruling out the possible existence of several other Fake Firms as the investigation moves ahead.
Arrest under GST
Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017 grants power to a Commissioner to authorise any officer of
Central Tax to Arrest under GST such person who has committed following offence:
Offence (Section 132(1))
(a) supplies any goods or services or both without the issue of any invoice, with the intention to evade tax.
(b) issues any invoice or bill without the supply of goods or services or both leading to wrongful availment or utilisation of input tax credit or refund of tax.
(c) avails Input Tax Credit using such invoice or bill without the supply of goods or services or both.
(d) collects any amount as the tax but fails to pay the same to the Government beyond a period of three months from the date on which such payment becomes due.
Punishment (Section 132(1))
When a person commits any of the offences stated above the punishment will be as follows:
Where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised
or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds
500 lakh Rupees– imprisonment for a term which may extend to 5 years and with fine.
200 to 500 lakh Rupees– imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years and with fine
(Section 132 (2)) Where any person convicted of an offence under this section is again convicted of an offence under this section, then, he shall be punishable for the second and for every subsequent offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine.