The Directorate of Commercial Taxes West Bengal on July 26, 2022, issued a notification to clarify various issues relating to the applicability of demand and penalty provisions under the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 in respect of transactions involving fake invoices.
A number of cases have come to notice where the registered persons are found to be involved in issuing tax invoices, without actual supply of goods or services or both, in order to enable the recipients of such invoices to avail and utilize input tax credit fraudulently, the illustrative clarifications are given in the document attached.
Actual action to be taken against a person will depend upon the specific facts and circumstances of the case which may involve a complex mixture of the above scenarios or even may not be covered by any of the above scenarios. Any person who has retained the benefit of transactions specified under sub-section (1A) of section 122 of WBGST Act, and at whose instance such transactions are conducted, shall also be liable for penal action under the provisions of the said sub-section.
[Notification No. 03/2022]
