As many as 1,800 Service Tax dodgers are on the radar of Service Tax Department of Central Excise and Customs. Names of these tax-dodgers were found while sharing the data between the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

Now, the department has made up its mind to go tough against these evaders.

On the basis of thorough scrutiny of Income Tax Returns (ITR) and TDS of Service Tax, it was found that large numbers of traders were not even registered with the Service Tax Department while some showed less liability towards service tax in TDS returns filed with the CBEC.

The region-wise lists of Service Tax evaders had been handed over to respective commissioners of the Central Excise and Customs departments so that they can take necessary actions.

Talking to this correspondent, Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise and Customs (Service Tax Division) Arvind Saran confirmed receiving of the list of Service Tax dodgers of the city.

He said: “A list of as many as 1800 ST dodgers of the region has been received to the department three months ago and we have started the action on it.”

This matter is on top priority of department. “We are informing the dodgers by sending letters informing them of their share of tax evasion. So far, we have recovered Rs 75 lakh from 100 tax dodgers,” Saran said.

Deputy Commissioner Saran said: “Earlier, we were soft against the ST dodgers because of the Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme-2013 (VCES). Now, we will follow all the reasonable methods including raids and issue summons to trap the evaders after proving them guilty of ST evasions”.

According to the provisions, arrest of the dodgers, attachment of properties, bank accounts and even prosecution of defaulters can be initiated by the Central Excise and Customs Department.