The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) officers have uncovered tax evasion cases worth a staggering Rs 1.95 trillion in the first ten months (April-January) of the current fiscal year, as per data shared in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The number of GST evasion cases detected during this period stood at 25,397. Notably, taxpayers voluntarily deposited Rs 21,520 crore in these cases, indicating ongoing efforts to curb fraudulent activities.

GST Evasion Cases Over the Years

According to official data from the GST Investigation Wing, the total GST evasion detected in the last five years amounts to Rs 6.79 trillion across 86,711 cases. The breakdown of tax evasion detected in previous years is as follows:

2023-24: Rs 2.30 trillion across 20,582 cases
2022-23: Rs 1.32 trillion
2021-22: Rs 73,238 crore
2020-21: Rs 49,384 crore

ITC Fraud Cases and Voluntary Deposits

Among the 25,397 cases detected in the current fiscal, 13,018 cases were related to Input Tax Credit (ITC) fraud, involving an amount of Rs 46,472 crore. Taxpayers made voluntary deposits of Rs 2,211 crore in such cases, underscoring the government’s intensified crackdown on fake ITC claims.

Government Measures to Curb GST Evasion

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary highlighted the proactive steps taken by the Central Government and GSTN to enhance compliance and prevent tax evasion. These measures include:

Providing intelligence inputs to detect fraudulent registrations.
Monitoring suspicious e-way bill activities.
Selecting returns for scrutiny and taxpayers for audits based on risk parameters.

Chaudhary also emphasized the impact of ‘Project Anveshan’—an initiative leveraging analytics and verification techniques such as Facial Recognition System (FRS) and e-way bill data to identify fraudulent GSTINs early and generate intelligence reports.

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Mariya Paliwala

Mariya is the Senior Editor at Juris Hour. She has 5+ years of experience on covering tax litigation stories from the Supreme Court, High Courts and various tribunals including CESTAT, ITAT, NCLAT, NCLT, etc. Mariya graduated from MLSU Law College, Udaipur (Raj.) with B.A.LL.B. and also holds an LL.M. She started as a freelance tax reporter in the leading online legal news companies like LiveLaw & Taxscan.

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