Latest laws Helping good people to do good things.July 31, 2017
Aim is to match residents’ spending patterns with the income declarations
A photo of your luxurious new car on the Facebook or Instagram post about your chic Holiday Resort may lead the Taxman to your door.
Next month onwards, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s govt. will begin amassing virtual info. collected not just from the traditional sources like banks, but also from the social media sites, since the aim is to match residents’ spending patterns with the income declarations.
Officials’ll be able to spot those people who pay too little tax without raiding homes & offices like they presently do, the people familiar with this matter said, asking not to be identified citing rules on speaking with media.
Built over 7 years at a cost of around ₹1,000 crore, the ‘Project Insight’ will complement the world’s largest biometric identity database & India’s most ambitious tax overhaul as policymakers try to get more people to pay up.
Countries like Australia, Belgium & Canada are already using such data to unearth the tax evasion that may have gone undetected without help of technology.
India’s Tax-to-GDP ratio is around 17% compared to 25% for most of the Asian countries, according to govt. data.
Compliance will rise 30% to 40% during the first phase of the project, people familiar with the project said.
The 2nd phase’ll be rolled out by December, during which data analytics will mine, clean & process the info.
Individual’s spending profiles will be created & inquiries will be more targeted. In the last phase, which’ll go live in May 2018, advanced systems will be used to predict future defaults & flag risks.
With inputs from TOI