The Central Goods And Services Tax (CGST), which came into force in 2017, empowers its officers to scrutinize a return furnished by registered people to verify its correctness. But it seems Gujarat’s CGST department is still struggling with procedural wrangles or is simply lethargic.
Highly placed sources disclosed to Vibes of India that lethargy in scrutinizing CGST filings is leading to multiple issues –- applicants not getting clarity on their files, the department losing out on revenue, and applicants with fake GST filings or with discrepancies get away scotfree.
In the Scrutiny of Returns for FY 2017-18, a total of 328 returns were allocated for scrutiny from eight divisions of Ahmedabad, which are Rakhial, Vatva-I, Vatva-II, Narol, Odhav, Vastrapur, Satellite and Vejalpur. Out of these 328 registered applicants, 309 were issued a notice of discrepancy (ASMT-10).
To date — right from the day the complicated legislation came into being — out of these 309, only 5% of registered applications with discrepancies were scrutinized and issued ASMT-12 form by CGST.
Losing out on revenue
“As of July 2022, 95% of the cases are still unscrutinized. Due to this delay in scrutiny, detection and recovery of taxes are pending. The government loses out on revenue from Gujarat due to such lethargy in the department,” revealed an officer from CGST, Ambavadi.
The target for July-Aug, 2022
This huge revenue loss is a cause for concern for the department, which has already reprimanded Deputy and Assistant Commissioners for all divisions (I to VIII) of Central GST, Ahmedabad South. The Commissioners have now been given a deadline to wrap up all pending scrutinies between July and August 2022. “The scrutiny of GST returns is very slow, which needs to be accelerated during July and August-2022 since by then, the scrutiny work is required to be completed,” adds the officer.
Scrutiny of Returns for FY 2017-18
| Division | Area | New returns allocated for scrutiny | Form GST ASMT 10 issued | ASMT Form 12 issued | % of notices given for discrepancies | % of ASMT 12 issued w.r.t. ASMT 10 |
| I | Rakhial | 51 | 50 | 0 | 98 | 0 |
| II | Vatva-I | 50 | 46 | 3 | 92 | 6.5 |
| III | Vatva-II | 36 | 34 | 1 | 94 | 3 |
| IV | Narol | 38 | 34 | 5 | 89 | 15 |
| V | Odhav | 43 | 43 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
| VI | Vastrapur | 46 | 43 | 0 | 93 | 0 |
| VII | Satellite | 38 | 36 | 2 | 95 | 6 |
| VIII | Vejalpur | 26 | 23 | 4 | 88 | 17 |
| Total | 328 | 309 | 15 | 94 | 5 |
“From the above, ASMT-10 as the percentage of ASMT-12 issued is only 5% against the ASMT-10 issued for the said period. Further, as ASMT-12 in most of the cases is pending to be issued there is hardly any detection and recovery made up to June 30, 2022,” adds another officer.
What is ASMT-10 in GST?
It represents Notices for intimating discrepancies in the GST returns.
What is ASMT-12 in GST?
It is an Order of acceptance of reply against the notice issued under the scrutiny of returns.
Form GST ASMT-10 is a notice issued under section 61 of CGST Act, 2017, read with Rule 99 of CGST Rules, 2017, for intimating discrepancies in GST returns filed by the taxpayer and seeking an explanation for the same.
Process of scrutiny:
Rule 99 of the CGST Rules, 2019, requires that in case of any discrepancy, a notice in GST form ASMT-10 is given– informing the registered person of such a discrepancy and seeking his explanation within 30 days.
The registered person may furnish an explanation for the discrepancy in form ASMT-11. If the explanation is acceptable then the officer shall inform him accordingly in GST form ASMT-12.
Also Read: Why Does Gujarat Income Tax Dept Give Charity Organisations A Miss?
