Major Tax Fraud Uncovered: Rs.25,000-Cr Evasion Linked to 18,000 Fake Companies

In a significant crackdown on tax fraud, officials have discovered approximately 18,000 bogus companies registered under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which were involved in an evasion of nearly Rs.25,000 crore. This revelation comes after a comprehensive nationwide campaign targeting fake companies.

During this recent initiative, GST officers identified a total of 73,000 companies suspected of being established solely to exploit input tax credit (ITC) without conducting any real sales, effectively defrauding the government. An official stated, "We had identified around 73,000 GSTINs for verification in the second all-India drive against fake registrations. Of this, around 18,000 were found to be non-existent. They were involved in tax evasion of about Rs.24,550 crore."

In addition to these findings, companies voluntarily paid about Rs.70 crore in GST during this special drive. The government is intensifying its efforts to combat fake GST registrations, implementing more rigorous physical verifications. This second all-India drive began on August 16 and continued until the end of October.

Previously, in the first drive against fake registrations, conducted between May 16 and July 15, 2023, officials uncovered 21,791 entities with GST registrations that were non-existent, leading to a detection of Rs.24,010 crore in suspected tax evasion.

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