Government to tighten GST registrations to curb frauds The GST Council has decided to reduce the time period for submitting PAN-linked bank account details from 45 days to 30 days. This will help the government to quickly identify and suspend fake registrations.

The Council has also decided to make physical verification of business premises mandatory for "high-risk" applicants. This will help to ensure that only genuine businesses are registered under GST.

The government has also launched a new portal to help businesses check the status of their GST registration. This portal will also provide information on how to report fake registrations.

Amid a massive pile of cases of fake registrations and misuse of benefits, the GST Council decided to tighten the rules to check the menace after it discovered irregular gains of Rs 17,000 crore by fraudulent entities.

The issue was discussed in detail during a meeting of officials on Monday, revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra told reporters. The moves come at a time when the government has discovered that around 17,000 of the 60,000 suspect registrations verified by it have proved to be fake.

As part of a two-month campaign, around 69,000 such accounts had been identified using artificial intelligence. The GST Council meeting was held on July 11, 2023. The new rules are expected to come into effect from August 1, 2023.

The government is taking a number of steps to curb GST fraud. The new rules, the dedicated enforcement agency, and the reward scheme are all part of the government's efforts to make the GST system more robust and transparent.

The government has set up a special task force to investigate cases of fake GST registrations. The task force is headed by the GST Commissionerate in Delhi.

The government is also working on a new IT system to track GST registrations and transactions. The new system is expected to be implemented in the next few months.