The government has made arrangements, now action will be taken against those who do wrong in GST

The government has taken a big step regarding theft in GST. Now the government has decided to bring Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) under PMLA, for which notification has been issued. This means that now the ED will be able to directly interfere in GST related matters. ED will be able to take direct action against GST evasion firm, trader or organization. Another step has been taken by the government to stop indirect tax and custom tax evasion. According to the notification issued by the government, complete information about the data of the GST network will be given to the ED. The notification is regarding sharing of information between ED and GSTN under section 66(1)(iii) of PMLA.
Why was PMLA brought?
The PMLA was brought in to deal with terror funding and drug trafficking. According to Moneycontrol, there is a lot of sensitive information under GSTN which can help in the investigation. The expert said that ET would be able to get more help in the investigation. The notification will now facilitate sharing of information or other things between both GSTN and ED.
What is PMLA?
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act was drafted to prevent money laundering and confiscate the properties involved. Under this, the government has the right to confiscate the properties earned illegally. This law was passed in the year 2002. However, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act or Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was implemented on 1 July 2005. Significantly, it has been 6 years since GST was implemented. During this period the number of taxpayers has doubled from 2017 and now there are about 1.4 crore taxpayers. At the same time, the average monthly revenue has also increased from about Rs 90,000 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 1.69 lakh crore.