I-T dept will watch your foreign holiday trips, pictures

Mumbai: In the aftermath of demonetisation, the Income Tax department is leaving no stone unturned to increase the tax revenue and widen the tax base as only 3.7 crore taxpayers had filed their returns in 2015-16 assessment year.

The I-T department led by Central Board of Direct Taxes is closely watching quantum of income declared after note ban and also checking bank accounts for any discrepancy.

The latest in I-T department's attempt towards putting an end to black money is 'Project Insight'. According to a report on Bloomberg, the tax authorities have been working on the project for past seven years and have spent Rs 1,000 crore on it.

The tax authorities would be monitoring social media like Facebook and Instagram to close in on taxpayers who go on holidays, foreign trips, stay in costlier hotels to assess any tax evasion. The posts or pictures on these social networks would also come under tax scanner. 

It has been noted that while the economy is witnessing a fast-paced growth and peoples' incomes also going up, growth in tax revenues has remained standstill. With an aim to increase number of taxpayers and also enhance the tax base, the government has started this new project.

The report adds that the initiative looks to match residents’ spending patterns with income declarations, Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter as saying. With this, for tax authorities closing in on tax evaders would be much easier.

Apart from that, tax sleuths can identify and locate taxpayers who file too little returns and that too without raiding their premises. As present, raiding a tax evader's premises is a general practice to unearth unaccounted wealth.

India has a population of 1.3 billion people of which a slightly more than 3 per cent or 3.7 crore people filed their income tax returns in the 2016-17 assessment year. Besides, around 2 crore Indians flew abroad during the same year, the report added.

On average, 2.6 crore cars were sold during the period under consideration. Besides, 1.72 lakh people declared that there income for the  year was more than 50 lakh.

"Data analytics is the way forward for tax administrations across the world," Bloomberg quoted Amit Maheshwari, managing partner at accountancy firm Ashok Maheshwary and Associates near New Delhi, as saying.. "This will also put an end to harassment by tax officials as there will be no public interface. Perceived randomness in scrutiny will come to an end."