Punjab Finance Minister asks department to tighten noose around tax evaders from service sector

Chandigarh 14/02/2020: Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Harpal Singh Cheema and other party leaders addressing media persons during a press conference in Chandigarh on Friday, February 14 2020. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar | Photo Credit: AKHILESH KUMAR

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday directed the department to further tighten the noose around tax evaders from the service sector, asking the State Intelligence and Preventive Unit (SIPU) and Tax Intelligence Unit (TIU) to work in tandem to trace, track and nab the tax evaders.

At a review meeting of the SIPU, Mr. Cheema said that the department had performed remarkably in checking tax evasion in the trade of goods in the past one year, and now the need of the hour was to put a strong check on the tax evaders in the field of service sectors.

He asked the department to formulate a strong strategy against those registered and non-registered service providers who were not paying GST for the paid services being rendered by them.

In the meeting, officials apprised the Minister about the achievements of SIPU. An official statement said that SIPU registered a 38% increase in total penalty from goods in transit by charging a penalty of ₹190.94 crore and ₹43.54 crore from inspections during the financial year 2022-23, as against the total of ₹169.13 core during the financial year 2021-22.

“Out of this, a penalty of ₹121.43 crore was charged only from iron and steel scrap and finished goods, resulting in 66.44% of total detention. The total detentions were 9,018 out of which 2,455 were from Ludhiana only,” it said.