State moots app to check GST evasion by traders

HYDRABAD: Next time when you go to a hotel or buy clothes, upload your bill on the state government’s mobile App and win attractive gifts. This is part of a proposed initiative by the state commercial taxes department to plug any GST evasion by traders.

The department is all set to launch an App for GST so that tax evasion by traders could be minimised. According to official sources, the App will be named T-GST. Initially, the T-GST App would be used in the case of hotels, garment shops and other establishments dealing in products of daily need, according to officials.

It will be launched once chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao gives his assent for it.

The department has already instructed the traders to issue bills even for purchases of value below ` 200 if buyers insist on bills. The reason for this novel initiative by the commercial taxes department is that even though consumers pay taxes, in some cases, the traders do not show the entire turnover and there is every possibility of evasion of tax even in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime too.

 

  

In order to collect the maximum tax possible from traders, the commercial taxes department has decided to launch the mobile App. However, the App will have nothing to do with traders and will be mostly for consumers. Buyers who get bills for their purchases from traders will have to upload their bills on the proposed T-GST App.

“Once the App is launched, we will randomly check whether traders are remitting to the government the GST they collected from consumers,” the sources explained. The uploading of bills will not take much time for consumers.

The department also proposes to pay attractive incentives in the form of gifts or cash to consumers who upload their bills. It is likely to conduct the draw of lots and select winners for the gifts.

 Source::: Financial Express, dated 28/07/2017.