₹2,050.91 crore GST revenue arrears, 7,183 cases pending as of 31 March 2023

Who it concerns: Government of Madhya Pradesh, Commercial Tax Department (GST administration)

What the auditor found

• CAG found 179 E-Way Bills (₹13.57 crore) generated by non-filers and 405 by NIL-filers, indicating a lack of linkage between E-Way Bill and return filing systems.
• CAG identified under-reporting of turnover of ₹3.68 crore and short payment of tax of ₹52.14 lakh due to multiple E-Way Bills generated on the same invoices.
• CAG noted that 11,137 cancelled taxpayers (85% of 14,105) were left without follow-up regarding return filing compliance.
• CAG reported that 8 out of 10 Circles did not conduct any scrutiny of returns from 2017-18 to 2020-21.
• CAG found that no departmental audits were conducted even after six years of GST implementation, with SOPs issued only in February 2023.
• CAG flagged 652 high-risk deviations totaling ₹11,401.74 crore, including ITC mismatches of ₹1,636.01 crore and turnover mismatches of ₹6,382.04 crore.
• CAG recommended integrating E-Way Bill and GST return systems, auto-blocking E-Way Bill generation for cancelled/non-filing taxpayers, and linking with the VAHAN vehicle database.

Also in the document

• CAG reported that as of 31 March 2023, revenue arrears stood at ₹2,050.91 crore with 7,183 assessment cases pending.
• CAG found that in 150 E-Way Bill-03 booked cases, recovery was poor and follow-up was weak, with DRC-07 issued in only a few instances.
• CAG noted that 9 E-Way Bills were generated using two-wheelers, scrapped, stolen, or passenger vehicles, indicating fictitious movement of goods due to lack of coordination with the Transport Department.