GST Network under Prevention of Money Laundering Act
New Delhi, July 09; The Central Government has issued a notification to bring the Goods and Services Tax Network under PMLA. Due to this, the information collected under GST has been given an opportunity to be shared.
Money Information collected in GSTN can be shared under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Union Finance Ministry has issued an order in this regard.
According to the Finance Ministry, the 2006 Act will be amended accordingly. Henceforth, information can be shared between the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and other investigating agencies to investigate irregularities in GST tax collection.
Section 66 of the erstwhile Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) will be amended. This enables information sharing. In November last year, the central government had brought 15 institutions under GSTN. These may share information with ED.
Ban on duplicate registrations; There are many important reasons for bringing GSTN under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. These include prevention of fraud, duplicate registrations, mainly in GST collection. Now it is also convenient for the tax authorities to conduct investigations.
A special campaign against GST fake registration was launched from May. Around 69,600 registrations have been verified so far and officials estimate that around 17,000 registrations are fake.
In the previous GST Council meeting, the central government had held a discussion on framing a law to treat GST tax evasion as a serious crime and facilitate the imposition of stiffer jail terms and fines.
The Revenue Department under the Ministry of Finance had submitted a proposal to the CEIB in this regard. As GST tax evasion is estimated to be high at the state level, the new law will help in investigating the fraud.
laundering Act (PMLA). It will help sharing of information between the GSTN, ED and other investigative agencies.
