New Delhi, Aug 12 (PTI) Central and state GST officers will launch a pan-India special two-month drive against fake registration beginning August 16, the CBIC said on Monday.

This is the second such drive to identify fake registrations under Goods and Services Tax (GST). Fake GST registrations are usually taken to fraudulently avail and pass on input tax credit and evade GST.

"The second Special All-India Drive may be launched by all Central and State Tax administrations from 16th August 2024 to 15th October 2024 to detect suspicious/ fake GSTINs and to conduct requisite verification and further remedial action to weed out these fake billers from the GST eco-system and to safeguard Government revenue," the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said in an instruction to field formations.

In the first drive between May 16, 2023 to July 15, 2023, against fake registration, a total of 21,791 entities (11,392 entities pertaining to state tax jurisdiction and 10,399 entities pertaining to CBIC jurisdiction) having GST registration were discovered to be non-existent.

An amount of Rs 24,010 crore (state - Rs 8,805 crore + Centre - Rs 15,205 crore) of suspected tax evasion was detected during the special drive.

Moore Singhi Executive Director Rajat Mohan said this extended drive highlights the critical role of data analytics and inter-agency collaboration in combating tax evasion and underscores the government's commitment to maintaining a clean and fair tax environment.