DGGI unearths GST evasion of over Rs 50 lakh from Hotel The Grand Neelam
| Date :23-Jul-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
Raipur
A 9-member team of sleuths from Directorate General of Goods & Service Tax Intelligence (DGGI), Zonal Unit, on Monday searched Hotel The Grand Neelam (GreenWood), situated on VIP Road and unearthed GST evasion to the tune of over Rs 50 lakh. The team also seized incriminating document pertaining with the evasion done in past one year. According to the sources, the nine-member DGGI team led by Abrar Hussain Khan, Senior Intelligence Officer (SIO), also comprised of SIOs Thomas Xaviers, BB Sahu, Amit Guatam, Intelligence Officers (IO) Puneet Mishra, Aparna Bajpayee, Manas Dixit, Sunil Bhaktani and Harpeet Singh.
“The search was carried out following a precise intelligence input that the promoters of the hotel, Sanjay Sthapak and Mayank Sthapak, evaded tax liability of over Rs 50 lakh against the value of taxable service to the tune of Rs 3 crore between the period August 2018 till July 20019,” the sources added. According to the sources, the search conducted under Section 67 of Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, commenced during the afternoon hours of Monday at around 2 pm, after the necessary warrant to execute the operations was obtained by the team from Nem Singh, Joint Director, DGGI Zonal Unit here. During the searches, the sleuths managed to lay their hands on incriminate paper trails and other digital evidences, secured from the hotel premises.
“The hotel was earlier had partnership between Sanjay Sthapak, reported to be an NRI and another businessman P B Swami. However, sometime earlier, the partnership had to be culminated after the twosome developed some differences due to consecutive losses in the business. Since then, the entire hotel operation was primarily and wholly handled by Mayank Stahpak,” the sources added. Few months ago, according to sources in DGGI, it was learnt that the hotel management neither filed its Income Tax Returns nor it was abiding by payable GST liability, following which it was decided to bring the entire business under the surveillance of the department.
“It was found during the investigation, the hotel management evaded tax liability under several heads of GST provisions since it offered rooms on rent, hosted banquet services and similar such hospitality services. Thus, the search was necessitated today,” the sources maintained. Against the backdrop of the searches, a participating sleuths said, ever since GST has been implemented, businessmen and traders are adopting different types of modus operandi and ways to hide their unaccounted income to evade their tax liability. “However, DGGI is keeping a close watch on such persons and units and many more searches may follow soon,” he cautioned.