GST officials tap radio frequency data to detect tax evasion and fraud
Goods and services tax authorities have started detecting instances of tax evasion by identifying mismatches between electronic permits issued for transporting goods and the data from radio frequency tags that commercial vehicles use to pass through toll plazas.
GST officials are now identifying vehicles that pose a risk of revenue leakage by comparing details furnished at the time of generating e-way bills for goods movement with the actual movement of vehicles captured at toll plazas. E-way bills are needed for transportation of goods worth more than Rs 50,000 by a GST registered person within and across states.
E-way bills were integrated with the radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in January this year. This means details of proposed goods transportation, including classification of the item, destination and vehicle details furnished at the time of e-way bill generation, is fed into these radio frequency tags of commercial vehicles. This helps in cross-verifying the details of vehicle movement specified in the e-way bill with their physical movement and detect mismatches.
The development is a major milestone in tax administration as it gives greater precision to government efforts to check evasion, although border check posts have been dismantled across states with the introduction of GST four years ago. It also helps genuine goods transporters as officials tend to focus on cases flagged in their IT system rather than suspecting all taxpayers.
