Punjab Excise and Taxation Department on Tuesday unearthed the tax evasion of Rs 23 crore as a firm allegedly found to be depositing fake forms to evade tax.
A Mandi Gobindgarh-based firm had submitted fake C-form worth around Rs 23 crore with regard to the sale of steel chairs, said ludhiana Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC) JK Jain.
Jain said that the company had supplied steel chairs to some Delhi-based firms. “When a company supplies some products to some firm outside the state, which in this case is Delhi, that firm is charged tax at two per cent rate as per the section 8(4) and rule 12(1) of Central Sales Tax Act 1956,” he said.
He further explained that “for availing this concession rate, the seller is to submit a C-Form, which in this case are found to be fake. In the absence of C-Forms, the firm has to deposit VAT at 14.3 per cent”.
The firm in question had submitted 11 different C-forms worth Rs 22.53 crore with the department and on the basis of this deposited VAT at two per cent, Jain informed.
Jain said that the Department got suspicious and got the C-Forms submitted by the company scrutinized from Trade and Taxes Department, New Delhi.
Trade and Taxes Department, New Delhi, Assistant Commissioner has confirmed that the C-Forms mentioned by the firm were never issued by the Department, he said.
Had the company submitted genuine C-Forms, they would have been entitled for depositing VAT at two percent but as the C-Forms mentioned by them were found to be fake, they would have paid VAT at 14.3 per cent, Jain said.
The department has written to the SHO (station house officer) of Mandi Gobindgarh town to register an FIR against the company.