new delhi the government has detected rs 20000 crore worth gst evasion so far this fiscal and will take more steps to check frauds and increase compliance a senior tax officer said on wednesdaycentral board of indirect taxes and customs member investigation john joseph further said the department would soon call a meeting of the representatives of the real estate sector to understand transition issues faced by the sector post reduction in gst ratesthe gst council chaired by finance minister arun jaitley and comprising state counterparts earlier this week decided to cut tax rates on underconstruction apartments and affordable housing to five per cent and one per cent respectivelyhowever builders will not be able to claim credit for the taxes paid on inputs like steel cementthe earlier gst rate on underconstruction apartments and affordable housing was 12 per cent and eight per cent with input tax credit itc respectivelyon demand for giving itc relief to the builders of the underconstruction flats which are already built but not yet sold to buyers joseph said the real estate sector will have to raise the issue with the urban development ministryyou need to talk to them urban development ministry as revenue department we cannot give you any benefit of subsidy to that extent he said at an assocham event herejoseph said between aprilfebruary 201819 gst evasion worth rs 20000 crore has been detected of which rs 10000 crore was recoveredhe said the tax officers on tuesday detected fake invoice worth rs 1500 crore which was used to claim illegal gst credit of rs 75 crorewe have already recovered rs 25 crore and the rest is on the way joseph saidstating that only 510 per cent of the businesses are black sheep and bring bad name to the industry he said the government will take more measures to increase compliance and act against evaders in a way such that genuine businesses do not sufferjoseph said the government has been dynamic in rationalising tax rates since gst rollout on july 1 2017 while increasing compliance for 12 crore registered businessesin future as gst moves forward the rates need to consolidate across the world it is one rate but it may not be possible for us to implement it here because we have the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich in the country what is good for the richest cannot be the best for the poor but five rates converging into two or three depending on what the council decides this is the way forward he saidcurrently gst has 4tier slab of 5 12 18 and 28 per cent while essential items are zero rated