Rourkela: A man residing in the Sector-20 area here has been charged with gross tax liability under Section 74(5) for allegedly receiving taxable goods amounting to Rs 23.96 crore and further availing Rs 4.31 crore under CGST and SGST on the strength of fake invoice.
The Good and service tax (GST) department has served a notice to accused Rajendra Pallai who happens to be a driver.
CT & GST Officer, Cuttack Central mentioned, "It has come to the notice that the said person (Pallai) received taxable goods amounting to Rs 23,96,64,843 and availed Input Tax credit of Rs 2,15,69,836 under CGST and 2,15,69,836 under SGST respectively on the strength of tax invoice during January 2018."
"In the course of the investigation into the business activities of the said taxpayer, it was ascertained that the concerned taxable entity is a nonexistent one. As the supplier is nonexistent, the ITC availed on the strength of the invoices issued by such taxpayer is fake and without the actual receipt of goods. Hence ITC claimed on the strength of such fake invoices is subject to penal action under Section 74 of the Odisha GST Act 2017," the notice stated.
In the connection, the GST has reportedly asked Pallai to pay the amount of tax (Rs 4.31 crore) along with the amount of applicable interest and penalty under Section 74(5), failing which a show-cause notice would be issued.
Surprisingly, the accused is clueless about any such transaction or tax fraud. "I received the notice from GST some 15-20 days back. I saw that somebody has opened a fake firm RP Enterprises based in Cuttack in my name. A few GST officials had come to my house a year ago, and after investigation, they told me that this is a fraud case. I had given my documents to a person, and he is in my suspect list. Everything I want now is a detailed probe and action should be taken as per law against whosoever is found guilty," said Pallai while speaking to OTV.