General Offences & penalties under GST

 General Offences & penalties under GST 

An offense is defined as a breach of a law or rule, i.e. an illegal act. Similarly, an offense under GST is a breach of the provisions of the GST Act. There are 21 offenses under GST, which we have classified under the following sections, for your easy reference:

1. Fake or Incorrect Invoices / Bills 

A taxable person indulges in the following GST offenses: 

1. Supplies any goods/services without any invoice or issues a false invoice 
2. Issues any invoice or bill without supply of goods and/or services in violation of the provisions of GST.
3. Issues invoices using the identification number i.e. GSTIN of another bonafide taxable person 

2. Fraud 

A taxable person indulges in the following offense under GST: 

1. Submits false information while registering under GST 
2. Submits fake financial records or documents or files fake returns to evade taxes 
3. Does not provide information or provides false information during proceedings

3. Tax Evasion 

A taxable person indulges in the following offenses under GST:

1. Collects GST, but does not submit it to the government within 3 months 
2. Collects GST by breaking the provisions, but fails to deposit it to the government within 3 months, which will still be treated as an offense under GST 
3. Obtains refund of any CGST / SGST by fraud 
4. Takes and/or utilizes ITC without actual receipt of goods and/or services
5.  Deliberately suppresses his sales to evade taxes.

 4. Supply or Transport of Goods 

A taxable person indulges in the following offenses in GST: 

1. Transports goods without proper documents
2.  Supplies or transports goods, which he knows will be confiscated 
3. Destroys or tampers goods which have been seized 

5. Other offenses

A taxable person: 

1. Has not registered under GST although he is required to register under the law.
2.  Does not deduct TDS or deducts less amount than what is applicable.
3.  Does not collect TCS or collects less amount than what is applicable.
4.  Takes or distributes input tax credit in violation of the rules, being an Input Service Distributor 
5. Obstructs the proper officer during his duty, for instance, during the audit.
6.  Does not maintain all the books that he is required to maintain under the law 
7. Destroys any kind of evidence.

For all the 21 offenses in GST listed above, the penalty will be a minimum of INR 10,000, with variations in place, depending on the nature of the offense under GST