The State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) department in Gujarat claimed to have found Rs 42 crore in unaccounted money from various private coaching classes across the state. According to officials, the coaching classes were searched for tax evasion and an estimated Rs 6 crore evasion was discovered.
A total of 54 locations belonging to 10 private coaching classes were searched by the SGST department. These searches were conducted in Bhavnagar, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Himmatnagar, Surendrnagar, Godhra, Anand, Jamnagar, Mehsana, Dahod, Morbi, Vadodara, Surat and Vyara, Surat, Navsari, and Junagadh.
According to the modus operandi shared by department, the private tuition classes used to not provide bills to the students paying their fees or a bill of a lower amount would be given. The department found unaccounted money of Rs 42 crore for which 18 per cent tax has not been paid in full.
The SGST stated that the coaching classes had recovered Rs 1.85 crore of the Rs 6 crore payable amount.
The department stated that it will take steps to recover the remaining amount as well as the GST evasion penalty.