Strict action plan against fake exporters claimed refund of 2029 crore

The tax Department is getting to take stringent action against the 1,474 at-risk exporters whose location isn’t correct but has claimed a refund of Rs 2,029 crore under the products and Services Tax (GST). Sources have given this information. Sources said that the integrated GST (IGST) refund has been kept suspended in cases where the report after checking the validity of the exporter or supplier isn’t correct.

Only Rs 2,026 crore refund pending
sources said that till now quite Rs 1.37 lakh crore IGST refund has been issued and only Rs 2,026 crore refund has been pending. Consistent with the law, further work is being done on this. A mobile support facility has been made available for the settlement of complaints associated with refunds of genuine exporters, working for twenty-four hours and 7 days. However, he said that customs officials are sensitized to issue refunds only to honest exporters in these difficult days of COVID-19.

Fake exporters get refunds rejected
Sources say that CBIC examines the legitimacy of every exporter at two levels. In this, hardly three to four documents are verified as per requirement. Within the process, 1,474 exporters were found to be risky exporters after CBIC’s Directorate General of Risk Management examined the legality of CGST officers performing at the regional level. Of these, seven exporters are star exporters. These exporters have claimed a complete refund of Rs 2,029 crore. But these exporters couldn’t be found at their stated business addresses. Therefore their refund has been rejected.

These states are fake exporters
According to sources, of the 1,474 high-risk exporters whose exact address has not been found, 1,125 are from Delhi alone. Aside from this, 215 of the exporters not found at the given address are from Surat, 28 from Thane, 15 from Faridabad, and 11 from Kolkata. These exporters claiming fraudulent refunds mainly export readymade garments, wallpaper, wall coverings, leather clothes, smoking pipes, mobile phones, cigarette holders, footwear, plastics, floor coverings, ball bearings, and roller bearings.

Of the seven-star exporters whose address wasn’t found to be correct, five are from Delhi, and one each is from Mumbai and Kolkata. Aside from this, adverse reports have also been received against three more star exporters. Two of them are from Mumbai and one is from Jaipur. These star exporters trade readymade garments, kitchen wares, utensils, speakers, etc. Amplifiers, microphones, marine products, unstitched fabrics, saris, scarves, etc. These three-star exporters have also claimed IGST refunds of Rs 28.9 crore. Sources say that these risk-averse exporters are willing to pay IGST at the very best rate of 28 percent and claim unprofitable input decrease (ITC).