Ahmedabad: The Gujarat state tax department has detected an alleged GST evasion of about Rs 6.54 crore after raids on 41 premises linked to 27 traders. These traders are accused of making unbilled retail sales across north and central Gujarat.The searches on July 8 came after intel that some traders were selling goods without issuing tax invoices, and recording transactions through informal ‘kacchi chiththi’ slips. The accused traded in pan masala, bidis, cigarettes, areca nuts, tobacco, lime and grocery items.Department teams searched premises in Ahmedabad, Deesa, Palanpur, Patan, Becharaji, Radhanpur, Visnagar, Unjha, Mehsana and Bavla.Officials said preliminary verification found major differences between physical stock and recorded inventory, indicating unaccounted sales, non-issuance of invoices and suppression of taxable turnover. The department estimated the tax liability at around Rs 6.5 crore.Proceedings have been initiated to recover the dues. Officials said the data gathered during the operation is being analysed to identify similar instances of tax evasion in other major business-to-consumer (B2C) sectors.
