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NEW DELHI: The government has unearthed goods and services tax ( GST ) evasion to the tune of Rs 5.70 crore in 16 cases in just five months of the ongoing financial year.

GST was introduced on July 1, 2017. It subsumed over a dozen central as well as local taxes, including excise and service tax, taking the country to one-nation, one-tax regime.

As per the inputs provided by the finance ministry, the government has detected GST evasion to the tune of Rs 5.70 crore in 16 cases during July-November 2017-18, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs P P Chaudhary said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

In addition, it has found service tax evasion of Rs 9,660 crore in a total of 2,938 cases during April-December of 2017 -18.

Further, the government has discovered evasion of central excise to the tune of Rs 7,242 crore in 614 cases, while the same for customs was at Rs 3,987 crore in 26,969 matters in the first nine months of the current financial year.

The minister further said tax department takes appropriate action in suitable cases for evading taxes.

Such actions include searches, seizure, and assessment of income, levy of tax, penalty and filing of prosecution complaints before criminal courts.

