GST department goes on tax demand overdrive..!! From Hindustan Unilever to ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Eicher Motors, almost all the big names of India Inc and thousands, if not lakhs, of smaller GST taxpayers have received tax demand on the eve of new year

as authorities sought to meet the five-year deadline to raise claims, literally burning the midnight oil.

The notices range from mismatch of input tax credit, mismatch in turnover for various returns to demand for non-payment of tax on payments made to expats (in case of MNCs) for which demand has been raised from multinationals despite the confusion over their legality.

Tax consultants said that several MNCs have received similar demand notices. There is no count on the number of notices as the Centre and state authorities have issued separate orders.

According to exchange filings, one large company received five notices between December 30 and 31 from various officers, while another received three between December 29 and 31.

The tax demand ranges from a small portion of an entity's turnover, which will not cause any material impact, to the entire turnover, which is bound to trigger litigation.

For instance, the demand on LIC is over Rs 800 crore, including penalty, while for Eicher Motors it is Rs 130 crore and around Rs 27 crore for ICICI Bank.

Since 31-Dec-2023 was the last date for issue of assessment orders for 2017-18 it has resulted in raining of orders on the eve of the new year. Blame lies equally on the doorstep of taxpayers who casually reply to notices without submitting proper evidence before GST authorities