New Delhi, Aug 4 : The Delhi Trade and Taxes Department has started analysing the return filing status of the taxpayers registered under the Goods and Services Tax. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, on Tuesday held a meeting with the officials of the department where it was presented that around 15,000 taxpayers were analysed of which nearly 970 taxpayers did not file returns for 2020-21 from January to March. The Delhi government has also found that this year nearly 10,800 companies have paid lesser or zero tax from January to March. Taking cognizance of these findings, the Delhi government has prepared a list of defaulters. Sisodia has also appealed to all the companies to immediately deposit the taxes. "Delhi government will take stringent action against the defaulters. Delhi has till now evaluated 15,000 companies but in the future, evaluation of 7 lakh companies registered under GST will be done. The Delhi government will take strict action against all the defaulters after the evaluation," Sisodia said. The analysis of the Delhi government has found that this year nearly 10,800 companies have paid lesser or zero tax from January to March and nearly 970 taxpayers belonging to both central and state jurisdiction have not deposited any tax for the last two quarters. The Delhi government has received around Rs 2,015 crore lesser tax compared to last year. In 2019, the Delhi government had collected around Rs 5,792 crore in tax returns, but this year from January to March, the tax collection has been only Rs 3,777 crore. The Delhi government has started issuing 3A notices to 10,800 defaulting taxpayers and in case they fail to file their return within the prescribed time period (15 days), the department will proceed to make best judgement assessment of such taxpayers. The Delhi government has also issued notices to 111 liquor companies which did not pay VAT from January to March. "I appeal to all the companies which have not deposited full tax to immediately deposit the amount. This is public money which the companies have collected from the people, but did not deposit to the government. This will affect government work, including the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic," Sisodia said. The Delhi government is also identifying taxpayers evading tax. The department has been able to recover Rs 10 crore from two such defaulting companies in the last one week. The department is also analysing the tax payment profile of such taxpayers along with their overall tax profile in the previous quarters. Last week, three major search operations were conducted against the defaulters, including marble and granite companies and bulk taxpayers, and tax amounting to Rs 20.70 lakh was collected from them. In one case, the company's office was sealed, while in another second case the company's papers were confiscated. The Delhi government has also taken action against movement of goods without carrying e-way bills. Since June 23, around 140 vehicles have been detained and tax and penalty to the tune of around Rs 1 crore have been collected. /IANS