Every country’s primary challenge is tax evasion, and the government develops methods to counter such acts by unscrupulous citizens. The GST Act has made provisions which empower the authorities to recover taxes from tax defaulters. In the event of tax authorities passing the order for the demand of tax, the defaulter has only 3 months from the date of issue of the law to pay the due tax, interest, and penalty.

There are several modes of recovery which the authorities may use as empowered by the GST Act. The officer may recover the unpaid tax through deduction of money from the amount paid in excess by the defaulter in any other payment.

He may also deduct the tax by detaining/selling goods that belong to the defaulter which are under his control. Furthermore, the officer may also produce the notice to people who owe money to the defaulter and ask them to pay the tax amount. He may also indicate the date on which the money should be spent.

The officer is also empowered to recover the tax by detention or sale of the property owned by the tax defaulter. He may detain the assets as long as the taxes are not paid. In case the money is not spent until 30 days of detention of property then the officer is authorized to sell the property for recovering the money. He is liable to pay the excess balance amount earned from the sale back to the defaulter.

The collector of the respective district may be sent by the officer in connection with tax recovery along with a certificate which states the due amount. The collector shall treat this as a land revenue collection drill. In particular cases, the officer may also approach the magistrate to recover the tax. The magistrate can, in turn, consider it as a beautiful collection.

What Is Tax Due First Charged?
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 clearly explains such situations and must be referred to in detail for further clarifications. Tax, interest, penalty, etc. to be paid by the defaulter will be the first charge on the property of such taxable or another person.

Tax evasion could impede a country’s growth, and therefore it must be avoided by taxpayers as it is a punishable offense and consequently various counter-measures exist! For any support, visit www.rajlaxmiworld.com