Ludhiana:
With scam after scam falling out of the government's cupboard, there perhaps can be space for one more. In Punjab, the Ludhiana state excise department has uncovered a scam involving bogus bills for claiming Value Added Tax (VAT) refund.
According to Ludhiana excise department, records of about 100 companies in the district have been scanned that show that bogus bills worth Rs 3000 crores have been claimed, involving tax benefit to the tune of Rs 300 crore.
"Chain of purchases was shown while there was nothing in their stock. It was more or less purchases were from the vacuum. The companies never purchased anything so ITC input tax credit was passed to the consumers and some of the consumers took VAT refund also," said Rishi Pal, Assistant Commissioner (Excise), Ludhiana.
NDTV tracked the owner of one such company who supplied bogus bills and made millions but now he is under the excise scanner.
"I have done billing to the tune of at least 3000 crores. My tax liability is around 120 crores. I have informed other parties also involved that they should pay the tax," the owner said.
VAT tax evasion is not just limited to Punjab. There are many parts across the country where a similar practice takes place. Perhaps the government needs to introduce stronger deterrents to check the loss of public money.