India to roll out GST reward scheme with monthly cash prizes of up to Rs 10 lakh

The Centre will soon launch the ’Mera Bill Mera Adhikar’ scheme to reward and incentivise businesses to comply with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law — under the scheme, those who upload GST invoices on a smartphone application could receive a cash prize of up to Rs 1 crore, PTI reported.

Under the invoice incentivisation scheme, cash prizes of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore are up for grabs for those upload an invoice received from a retailer or a wholesaler on the app, which will be available on both iOS and Android platforms. The uploaded invoice uploaded should have the GSTIN of the seller, invoice number, amount paid, and the tax amount.

There are conditions, however — a user can upload up to 25 genuine invoices in a month on the app, with a minimum purchase value of Rs 200, an official said.

There will be more than 500 computerised draws held each month, with the prize money potentially running into lakhs of rupees. Each quarter, two draws will be held in which the prize could go up to Rs 1 crore, officials said.

The scheme is being finalised and could be launched this month.

This is the latest in a series of steps taken by the government to curb GST evasion. The government has already made electronic invoices mandatory for B2B (business-to-business) transactions where the annual turnover exceeds Rs 10 crore.

The ’Mera Bill Mera Adhikar’ scheme would ensure electronic invoice generation even in the case of B2C customers so as to enable the buyer to be eligible to participate in the lucky draw, those in the know said.

The scheme's main goal is to incentivise citizens and consumers to ask for genuine invoices from the seller when making business-to-consumer (B2C) purchases, which are also under GST purview. This is to encourage tax-compliant behaviour, in the B2C stage of the transactions, by consumers and business across India.