Tax evasion as of December totals over Rs 2,600 cr

New Delhi: Coming down heavily on tax defaulters, financial intelligence agencies have detected tax and duty evasion of over Rs 2,600 crore in the last quarter ended December.

The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) and Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)– two lead financial intelligence agencies under the Revenue department-have detected service tax and central excise and customs duties evasion of Rs 2,670.51 crore and recovered over Rs 880 crore from various defaulters during the period.

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Cases of evasion of service tax involved an amount of nearly Rs 1,700 crore, those of customs duty evasion to the tune of Rs 701.17 crore and of central excise duty Rs 268.80 crore. In addition to crackdown on tax evaders, the DRI has seized contraband worth Rs 504.39 crore which was attempted to be smuggled into or out of the country.

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The agency detected 143 cases of customs duty evasion to the tune of Rs 701.17 crore during Oct-Dec 2012, Director General of DRI, Najib Shah said. As many as 62 persons were arrested under the Customs Act, 1962 by DRI alone in this quarter on charges of evasion of customs duties, he said.

“Customs duties to the tune of Rs 369.34 crore were recovered by the DRI in the third quarter of the current financial year which is more than the total recoveries of Rs 362.04 crore made in the last financial year,” Shah said in a press release giving details of DRI’s performance.

Investigations are also underway in cases of misuse of exemption notifications and undervaluation of imports involving evasion of customs duty of more than Rs 1,000 crore by the DRI, he said. Another stringent action taken was preventive detention of 13 persons under the COFEPOSA (the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act) ,1974 in FY 2012-13 (up to December 2012).

A person can be detained for a year with a view to, inter-alia, prevent him from smuggling goods or abetting in smuggling of goods under COFEPOSA.

PTI