Report No. 25 of 2025 - Compliance Audit - Indirect Taxes – Goods and Services Tax

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Graffin

Report No. 25 of 2025 focuses on compliance audit of India’s indirect tax administration under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), covering levy and collection issues. GST came into effect on 1 July 2017, with several indirect taxes subsumed into GST, while the report also includes selected findings on Central Excise and legacy Service Tax. The document is organized into four chapters addressing administration and revenue trends, audit mandate and audit universe, effectiveness of GST compliance verification mechanisms for composition taxpayers, and systemic issues in GST payment and return filing oversight.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages141

Reading Time5 h 55 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

Executive summary

Chapter I : Indirect Taxes Administration and Revenue Trend

Nature of Indirect Taxes

Organizational Structure

Revenue Trend

Chapter II : Audit Mandate, Audit Universe and Response to Audit

Audit Mandate

Audit Universe

Audit Sample, Audit Efforts and Audit Products

Response of the Department on Audit observations

Follow-up of previous CAG’s Audit Reports

Response by Ministry to audit observations included in this report

Chapter III : Effectiveness of Compliance Verification Mechanism under GST

Effectiveness of Departmental monitoring mechanism in respect of taxpayers under Composition Levy Scheme (CLS)

Internal Audit under GST

Conclusion

Chapter IV : Department’s Oversight on GST Payments and Return Filing

Introduction

Legal framework

Context and significance

Audit objectives

Audit methodology and scope

Audit sample

Audit criteria

Audit findings

Impact on State Goods and Services Tax

Conclusion and summary of recommendations

Appendix-I : Audit findings noticed on Central Excise during the period 2022-23 and 2023-24

Appendix-II : Impact on State Goods and Services Tax

Glossary

SURJ ITH K Digitally signed by SURJITH K Date: 2025.12.11 14:59:26 +05'30' Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the period ended March 2023 Union Government Department of Revenue (Indirect Taxes – Goods and Services Tax) Report No . 25 of 2025 (Compliance Audit) Laid on the table of Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha on Table of Contents | Contents | | Page | | --- | --- | --- | | Preface | | i | | Executive summary | | iii | | Chapter I : Indirect Taxes Administration and Revenue Trend | | 1-8 | | 1.1 Nature of Indirect Taxes 1
1.2 Organizational Structure 2
1.3 Revenue Trend 2
1.4 Conclusion 8 | | | | Chapter II : Audit Mandate, Audit Universe and Response to 9-14
Audit | | | | 2.1 Audit Mandate 9
2.2 Audit Universe 10
2.3 Audit Sample, Audit Efforts and Audit Products 11
2.4 Response of the Department on Audit observations on 12
Central Excise and Service Tax
2.5 Follow-up of previous CAG’s Audit Reports 13
2.6 Response by Ministry to audit observations included in this 14
report | | | | Chapter III : Effectiveness of Compliance Verification Mechanism 15-32
under GST | | | | 3.1 Effectiveness of Departmental monitoring mechanism in 15 respect of taxpayers under Composition Levy Scheme (CLS)
3.2 Internal Audit under GST 28
3.3 Conclusion 31 | | | | Chapter IV : Department’s Oversight on GST Payments and 33-110
Return Filing | | | | 4.1 Introduction 33
4.2 Legal framework 33
4.3 Context and significance 34
4.4 Audit objectives 35
4.5 Audit methodology and scope 36
4.6 Audit sample 37
4.7 Audit criteria 38
4.8 Audit findings 39
4.9 Impact on State Goods and Services Tax 106
4.10 Conclusion and summary of recommendations 106 | | | | Appendix-I : Audit findings noticed on Central Excise during the 111
period 2022-23 and 2023-24 | | | | Appendix-II : Impact on State Goods and Services Tax 112 | | | | Glossary 119 | | | Report No. 25 of 2025 (Indirect Taxes – Goods and Services Tax) Preface This Report for the year ended March 2023 has been prepared for submission to the President of India under Article 151 of the Constitution of India. The Report contains significant results of compliance audit of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) under the Department of Revenue. Thereport deals mainly with the issues involving levy and collection of Goods and Services Tax. A few audit findings with respect to Central Excise collections have been included to present a full picture of indirect taxes. The instances mentioned in this Report are those, which came to notice in the course of test audit conducted during 2022-23 and 2023-24. The audit has been conducted in conformity with the Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Report No. 25 of 2025 (Indirect Taxes – Goods and Services Tax) Executive Summary Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a tax on supply of goods or services or both except taxes on the supply of alcoholic liquor for human consumption. GST came into effect from 1 July 2017. Central Excise duty (except five Petroleum and tobacco products), Service Tax, Additional Customs Duty, Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD) and most of the indirect taxes of States have been subsumed into GST. This report deals mainly with the issues involving levy and collection of Goods and Services Tax. A few audit findings with respect to Central Excise collections and legacy Service Tax have been included to present a full picture of indirect taxes. This report is divided into four chapters. Chapter I provides a brief description of the nature of indirect taxes, organisational structure of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), trends in Indirect Taxes revenue and comparative growth of various components of Indirect Taxes. Chapter II describes the CAG’s audit mandate for audit of revenue receipts, audit universe, audit sample, and result

FAQs

What is the scope of Report No. 25 of 2025?

The report presents significant results of compliance audit covering levy and collection issues under GST. It also includes certain findings related to Central Excise collections and legacy Service Tax to provide a complete picture of indirect taxes.

How is the report structured across chapters?

It is divided into four chapters: (I) indirect tax administration and revenue trends, (II) audit mandate and audit universe, (III) effectiveness of compliance verification mechanisms under GST, and (IV) oversight of GST payments and return filing.

What does the GST compliance verification assessment in Chapter III focus on?

Chapter III evaluates the effectiveness of departmental monitoring for taxpayers under the Composition Levy Scheme (CLS) and the department’s performance with respect to internal audit, based on audit and follow-up compliance review.

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Graffin