India, Oct. 27 -- GST field officers will now have to prove the intent of a taxpayer to evade taxes before invoking the stringent GST law provision relating to 'fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression of facts' for raising tax demand, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said.

In a circular, the CBIC said section 74(1) or section 74A(5)(ii) of the CGST Act cannot be invoked merely on the ground of non-payment of GST without "specific evidence" of fraud or wilful misstatement or suppression of facts with intent to evade tax.

These provisions would also not be applied in scrutiny cases solely because a discrepancy has been noticed, as scrutiny proceedings are conducted to examine the records and ascertain the natu...