Till last week as many as 70 per cent of 59.57 lakh taxpayers had filed returns for July resulting in a maiden revenue of Rs 95,000 crore under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. 

As much as Rs 65,000 crore out of the nearly Rs 95,000 crore tax collections in July — the first month of GST — have been claimed as transitional credit by taxpayers, prompting the CBEC to order a scrutiny of all cases above Rs 1 crore.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which kicked in from July 1, allows tax credit on stock purchased during the previous tax regime.

This facility is available only up to 6 months from the date of GST rollout.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), the body which deals with formulation and implementation of policy concerning the levy and collection of indirect taxes, in a letter dated September 11 has asked tax officials to verify GST transitional credit claims of over Rs 1 crore made by 162 entities.

In the transitional credit form TRAN-1 filed by taxpayers along with their maiden returns for July, businesses have claimed a credit of over Rs 65,000 crore for excise, service tax  or VAT paid before the GST was implemented from July 1.

In light of such huge claims, CBEC Member Mahender Singh in the letter to chief commissioners said that as per the GST law, carry forward of transitional credit is permitted only when such credit is permissible under the law.