Traders hit upon 0 GST' scam in Hyderabad markets
Traders were charging customers the GST amount, but not issuing bills, thus denying the Centre and the state the tax due to them.
Hyderabad: Post-GST, “zero business”, the practice of conducting sales without issuing bills to customers, has gained ground in the city's markets. In raids recently conducted by officers of the commercial taxes, civil supplies and legal metrology departments, cases were booked against 300 traders indulging in this malpractice, and Rs 5.14 lakh was extracted from them in the form of penalties.
The raids revealed that traders were charging customers the GST amount, but not issuing bills, thus denying the Centre and the state the tax due to them.
Large-scale violations were uncovered in the markets in Begum Bazaar, Koti, Mehdipatnam, Siddi-amber Bazaar, Ranigunj, Nampally, Malakpet and Dilsukhnagar.
Traders in Charminar, Goshamahal, Uppal, Dilsukhnagar and Borabanda were found procuring commodities without bills. They procured palm oil and gutka from the Kakinada and Krishnapatnam ports in Andhra Pradesh and electronic, electrical, steel and construction material from the Chennai port.
Traders were also found procuring gutka, on which 28 per cent GST is applicable, from other states, without bills and invoices, and selling it to customers with the GST charges added, but without formal bills.
The zero business practice is also prevalent in the textile sector in the state. Cloth merchants were found procuring fabrics from Gujarat and charging the mandatory GST while selling them, without issuing bills.