Meaning of fraud or any wilful-misstatement or suppression of facts to evade tax
Time limit for raising demand and penalty amount increases if there is charge of fraud or any wilful misstatement or suppression of facts to evade tax. Hence, this issue becomes litigation prone.
The expression “suppression” shall mean non-declaration of facts or information which a taxable person is required to declare in the return, statement, report or any other document furnished under this Act or the rules made thereunder, or failure to furnish any information on being asked for, in writing, by the proper officer – Explanation 2 to section 74 of CGST Act.
There can be no suppression of facts if facts which are not required to be disclosed are not disclosed – Smt. Shirisht Dhawan v. Shaw Brothers – 1992 (1) SCC 534 = 1992 AIR SCW 1649 = AIR 1992 SC 1555* CCE v. Ranka Wires (2015) 322 ELT 410 (SC).