GST officers have uncovered fake input tax credit (ITC) claims of Rs 15,851 crore in the April-June quarter of current fiscal, a 29 per cent jump over the year-ago period, even though the number of fake firms detection was less Y-o-Y, officials said.
The total number of fake firms detected by central and state GST officers during the first quarter of FY26 stood at 3,558, less than 3,840 such entities detected in the same quarter of FY25.
panel of state finance ministers, chaired by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, is currently studying tax evasion in specific sectors and looking at ways to check input tax credit (ITC) fraud.
“On an average, about 1,200 fake firms are getting detected every month. The number of fake firm detection in the April-June period is less compared to last year, which shows that the drive against fake GST registration has worked,” an official said.
As per the data of the fake firms and ITC frauds detected by central and state GST officers during the June quarter of FY26, Rs 15,851 crore worth ITC was found to have been fraudulently passed involving 3,558 fake firms. During the period, 53 persons have been arrested by GST officers and Rs 659 crore recovered.
In the Q1 of FY25 , GST officers had detected Rs 12,304 crore fake ITC involving 3,840 fake firms. Rs 549 crore was recovered and 26 persons were arrested.
Under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, ITC refers to the taxes paid by businesses on purchases from suppliers. This tax can be claimed as a credit or deduction at the time of paying the final output tax.
Dealing with fake ITC has been a major challenge for the GST administration as unscrupulous elements were creating fake firms just to claim ITC and defraud the exchequer.
During 2024-25, GST officers have detected 25,009 fake firms involved in fraudulently passing input tax credit (ITC) worth Rs 61,545 crore.
GST officers have carried out two pan-India drive against fake registration under Goods and Services Tax (GST).
In the first drive against fake registration between May 16, 2023, and July 15, 2023, a total of 21,791 entities having GST registration were discovered to be non-existent. An amount of Rs 24,010 crore of suspected tax evasion was detected during the first special drive last year.
In the second drive between April 16 and October 30, 2024, GST officers have detected about 18,000 fake companies registered under GST, which have been involved in tax evasion of about Rs 25,000 crore, To deal with this, the GST registration process has been made stringent with checks on risky applicants.
While non-risky businesses are to be granted GST registration within 7 days, physical verification and Aadhaar authentication are mandatory for those those applicants who are flagged as risky by data analytics.
As a measure to track down the masterminds, the GST Act provides for punishment for wrongly availed ITC, suspension or cancellation of registration of taxpayers involved in fake ITC cases; blocking of ITC in electronic credit ledger; and provisional attachment of property/bank accounts, etc. for the recovery of government dues. (Agencies)
