Hunt for fake GST regn may turn heat on minnows of e-commerce

NEW DELHI : Small businesses that sell goods through e-commerce platforms fear a recently launched drive against fake Goods and Services Tax (GST) registrations could hit them hard because many of them run operations through co-working spaces or shared warehouses—practices that may pose a hurdle during verification.

- Gireesh Chandra Prasad 

 

Central and state indirect tax authorities launched a two-month drive on 16 May to weed out entities that secure GST registrations wrongfully, generate fake invoices and pass on bogus tax credits to other entities without any actual sales. The campaign seeks to eliminate fake input tax credits, which the authorities blame for revenue losses.

Vinod Kumar, president of the India SME Forum, a not-for-profit with close to 100,000 members, said in an interview that the drive to eliminate fraudulent GST identification numbers (GSTINs) is creating challenges to genuine online sellers.