Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 18 (IANS) The Satheesan government has stepped up its crackdown on tax evasion, with the State GST Department detecting alleged evasion of Rs 7.56 crore in vehicle parking services at railway stations across Kerala.
The Chief Minister’s office brought the evasion to light on Friday. The GST Intelligence and Enforcement wing detected the evasion during a statewide operation on September 16.
Officials inspected 69 locations linked to 22 taxpayers providing parking services on railway premises. The inspections covered their main business premises, residences, and additional business locations.
The department found that the turnover declared in GST returns was substantially lower than the actual revenue generated from parking services. Preliminary investigation indicated suppression of turnover worth Rs 42 crore and tax evasion of Rs 7.56 crore.
The inspections also detected the use of multiple QR codes to collect payments. Investigators collected transaction details for 13 taxpayers from software systems, while obtaining information for others from books, registers, and mobile phone chats.
The investigation is continuing, and the operation is set to widen beyond railway stations. The State GST Intelligence wing has collected details of more than 1,000 vehicle parking facilities operating at KSRTC premises, hospitals, shopping malls, and theatres across the state.
Further inspections will be conducted at locations where tax evasion is suspected. The action comes as the government seeks to strengthen revenue collection by plugging leakages and bringing more transactions into the tax net.
Satheesan, who also holds the Finance Minister’s portfolio, is overseeing the state’s revenue administration. The government has invited the public to report suspected tax evasion in the parking sector confidentially. Information can be sent to inform.sgst@kerala.gov.in.
The State GST Commissioner said enforcement and investigation against establishments involved in tax evasion would be strengthened. The railway parking operation could therefore be the first phase of a wider exercise.
With more than 1,000 parking facilities already identified for scrutiny, the GST department is preparing to extend its tax-evasion hunt to other high-footfall parking centres across Kerala.
–IANS
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