To strengthen the E-Way Bill (EWB) system under the goods and services tax regime, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has asked the revenue authorities to identify the taxpayers generating high value EWBs but not discharging tax liability and reporting such taxpayers for scrutiny.
Alert the Composition Levy Scheme (CLS) taxpayer, as well as the departmental officer, about crossing of the threshold limit and for generating EWB for inter-State supply, according to the CAG’s audit report on E-Way Bill System presented in Parliament on Tuesday.
It also asked authorities to alert taxpayer and departmental officer on generation of multiple EWBs with single invoice/similar invoice. It said authorities should issue suitable instructions to the proper officers for considering EWBs generated by the taxpayer before cancelation of registration retrospectively and taking action for recovery of tax wherever applicable.
In respect of preventive functions of the revenue department, CAG audit observed administrative deficiencies such as not having dedicated setup for verification of EWBs, insufficient patrolling vehicles, inadequate manpower, not having targets or insufficient verification of EWBs against the targets and insufficient use of analytical reports on EWBs.
Audit flags gaps in GST monitoring and preventive measures
The performance audit (PA) on E-Way Bill (EWB) System under GST was taken with two audit objectives to examine effectiveness of EWB mechanism in protecting revenue interest of the Government and to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness of the preventive activities of the Department in enforcing EWB provisions. EWB transactions pertaining to the period from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2022 were covered in this audit.
Turnover suppression and tax evasion cases total over Rs 576 crore
In respect of effectiveness of EWB system in protecting revenue, CAG noticed 470 instances amounting to Rs 576.86 crore of non or short discharge of tax liability by composition taxpayers generating EWBs for inter-State supplies and generating EWBs crossing threshold limit of composition scheme, taxpayers generating EWBs but filing nil returns, taxpayers generating EWBs but not filing returns, taxpayers generating EWB after the cancellation of registration and taxpayers using same invoice for generating multiple EWBs.
Audit observed suppression of turnover by 18 taxpayers pertaining to three Commissionerates who generated 3,137 EWBs for outward supplies of Rs 168.21 crore but did not discharge the tax liability of Rs 81.11 crore with interest of Rs 45.19 crore due to either non-filing of returns or non/short reporting the turnover in their returns.
Source from: https://www.financialexpress.com/business/industry-cag-flags-mismatch-between-e-way-bills-and-tax-payments-3945035/
