KATHMANDU, Nov 19: The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) on Sunday filed cases at the Kathmandu District Court against three owners of two firms for evading taxes worth Rs 17.42 million by using the fake value-added tax (VAT) bills.
It is the fourth case in the past two weeks that the department has filed cases against people submitting alleged fake VAT bills to evade both VAT and income tax. The total alleged tax evasion in the three cases was of Rs 342.85 million.
In the recent incident, the department registered cases against Binita Duwadi, proprietor of Ambel Enterprises and permanent resident of Hanspur Rural Municipality-5, Gorkha, and Saraswoti Gautam and her husband named Ram Sharan Gautam, proprietors of Susanjit Enterprises and residents of Kathmandu Metropolitan-32.
Department of Revenue Investigation files cases against three f...
The department has filed case against Duwadi seeking Rs 12.87 million in damages and double the amount in fines plus up to three years’ imprisonment. Similarly, Gautam duos have been sought for cumulative of Rs 4.54 million in damages and double the amount in fines plus up to three years’ imprisonment for each of the accused.
Despite the government’s continuous effort to check the use of counterfeit VAT bills, it is still found to be rampant. According to the department, more than 900 firms are under investigation for purchasing fake VAT bills to evade the government taxes.
The suspected firms were among the ones involved in delivering goods and services to government agencies, contractors, multinational companies, hydropower companies, and hospitals. Likewise, more than 100 companies that sold fake bills are currently under the scanner, the department said.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, the department on Sunday filed cases against six people at the Jhapa District Court for evading taxes worth Rs 365.5 million in total. According to the department, the accused were found to be involved in production and selling of the illegally produced gutkha, a tobacco product.
Mukesh Sharma, proprietor of Sakambari Product and the company’s supervisor Bishnu Prasad Kharel were among the accused. The department also filed cases against proprietor of SS Enterprises Ram Krishna Sharma and company’s supervisor Sadan Singh who carried out marketing of the illegally produced goods. The department also grilled Sitaram Sharma, proprietor of Madhav Enterprises and Ashish Sharma, owner of the vehicle used in the transaction of the goods.
In the charge sheet registered by the department, these people have been accused of evading excise duty worth Rs 310 million, VAT amount of Rs 27.9 million, income tax of Rs 23.8 million and health tax of Rs 3.14 million. The department has sought to fine the amount equivalent to evaded taxes in total and imprisonment of up to three years against each.
