Notice served to Parin Group of Hotels to deposit 1.38 lacs as tax & penalty Issued

Fake GST racket case referred to Crime Branch, physical inspections by lady state taxes officers in Jammu

Jammu: Continuing with process of keeping check on GST evasions the lady officers of the State Taxes Department, Jammu conducted extensive inspections of Boutiques, Beauty Parlours, Hotels and non GST return filers. Three teams of the lady officers visited different areas of the Jammu city and conducted inspections. Almost 30 trade premises were visited and their compliance vis-à-vis GST law was inspected.

The visiting teams seized the records of Naturals, Trikuta Nagar, Vasuki Boutiques, Trikuta Nagar, Hotel Airlines, Airport Road, Puri Boutique  a subsidiary of Puri Saree Centre, Karan Fitness Studio and International Gym at Rehari. Gross irregularities in maintenance of records as provided under GST law and non-issuance of GST invoices has been witnessed by the inspecting teams.

Additional Commissioner, State Taxes (Administration & Enforcement), Jammu Mohammad Shahid Saleem while briefing the media, mentioned that the inspecting teams found that Puri Boutique  a subsidiary of Puri Exclusives is running from a residential building in Gandhi Nagar area without proper registration under GST law. At site the visiting team found 14 tailors performing job for the boutique. The concerned has been running the business in gross violation of GST.

The State Taxes Department Jammu is identifying all such premises and in coming days strict action will be taken in case businesses are found running from private buildings without obtaining formal GST registration. The spokesman of the Department mentioned that action in all the above cases shall be initiated under GST law and appropriate penalty will be imposed in case violations are noticed. The teams comprised of State Tax Officers Ms. Anju Anand, Ms. Anissa Nabi, Ms. Savita, Ms. Pooja and Ms Ruchi and State Tax Inspectors. Meanwhile the State Taxes Department, Jammu issued notice to Parin Group of Hotels and Hotel Dolphin asking deposition of an amount of Rs.88 lacs & 53 lacs on account of tax and penalty for the accounting years 2017- 18 & 2018-19.

Two hotels were raided by the enforcement teams of State Taxes Department Jammu in recent past at Katra & Patnitop and it was found that Parin Group of Hotels was still in use of cancelled GSTIN bearing No.01DXMPK4529N1Z4. The GSTIN was created on 27th of July, 2017 and cancelled on 28th of July, 2017. The above GSTIN was used by the Parin Group of Hotels for charging GST from customers at Hotel Dolhphin, Railway Road, Katra, Hotel Green Cottage, Patnitop, Hotel Sehkari Bhawan, Patnitop, etc.

The hotel Dolphin bearing GSTIN 01AAHFH5431K1ZM – a subsidiary of Parin Group of Hotels has been issued a demand notice of Rs.53 lacs for the accounting years 2017-18 & 2018-19. Meanwhile, the State Taxes Department, Jammu also referred the matter of fake GST racket, busted on 5 th March, 2019, to crime Branch forregistration of FIR and bringing the culprits to justice and fixation of criminal liability. The department had on the basis of specific inputs detained vehicle bearing No.RJ09GB – 2622 carrying goods worth Rs.52 lac to the State.

On physical inspection of the vehicle, the documents produced by the transporters were put to online scrutiny. It was found that the racket was operational since April, 2018 and was deeply involved in issuance of fake GST invoices alongwith fake e-way bills. The principal racket master operates under the name & style of Mahima Enterprises, A.R. Electricals and Mahima Garments Export under the proprietorship of Mr.Rajeev Bhatia from Delhi and in connivance with fake GST number holders viz., Mahima Trade Mart, P.K. Pal Traders, Santosh Traders, Kathua, Ravish Traders, Kathua and Sonu Trading Company, Kathua, have been trading goods illegally for quite some time into the State from Delhi.

Additional Commissioner, State Taxes (Administration & Enforcement), Jammu Mr. Mohammad Shahid Saleem while briefing the media, mentioned that on scrutiny of all the firms it was found that same are fake and have traded goods worth approximately rupees fifteen crores. He maintained that the address locations of all fake GST firms located at Jammu & Kathua were checked physically and it was found that none of these firms are in existence at the given addresses and some other businessmen / enterprises were found active at the given sites/addresses.

The State Taxes Department in this week also seized five vehicles loaded with timber under Section 129 of J&K GST Act, 2017 which were found involved in violation of various provision of the GST Act. The modus operandi adopted by the consignors is that they have under-measured various pieces of timber to evade the tax. Approximately 10-12 cbm of timber is found excess in every vehicle. The seized vehicles are put to physical check and Tax & penalty as per GST law will be imposed on the violators.