Friday, November 15, 2019

Some 900 firms under DRI scanner for ‘tax evasion’

According to Department of Revenue Investigation, more than 900 firms are under investigation for purchasing and using fake value-added tax (VAT) bills. “These firms were delivering goods and services to government agencies, contractors, multinational companies, hydropower companies and hospitals, depriving the government of its revenue,” according to director-general of the department Dirgharaj Mainali.
More than 100 companies that sold fake bills are currently under the scanner, he said, adding that it had earlier filed cases against 39 individuals for printing and selling fake VAT bills. In March, the department had registered a case for the first time against 24 individuals. An additional 15 individuals were dragged to the court in June.
“The combined value of the fake VAT bills under investigation is around Rs 11 billion,” Mainali said, adding that the alleged VAT scam may be the biggest one yet in terms of both value and the number of firms involved. “The department today also filed a case at the Kathmandu District Court against proprietor of Lucky AS Enterprises Sunil Kumar Gautam for evading taxes worth Rs 99.56 million through alleged submission of fake VAT bills.
According to the body responsible for investigating revenue theft, it is the third case filed by the department in the last 10 days against people submitting fake VAT bills. “The alleged tax evasion in the three cases is cumulatively worth Rs 342.85 million,” a press note issued by the department reads.
The department – on November 12 – registered a case at the Kathmandu District Court against proprietors of Huspy Care International and Shree Shyam Traders for dodging taxes worth Rs 111.98 million. Likewise, the department – on November 5 – had filed a case at the same court against the proprietors of Nepal Donghua Construction Engineering Company, charging them of evading both VAT and income tax worth Rs 131.31 million.
After targeting the sellers of fake bills, the department is focusing now on investigating and filing cases against the firms that purchased and used them to evade tax, Mainali said, adding, “By showing higher expenditure on fake purchases, they also paid less income tax.”
Earlier, in the fiscal year 2010-11, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) had built up cases to recover Rs 6.69 billion in back taxes from 518 firms. Many of these cases remain undecided but the Supreme Court is going to be decided very soon.

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