Income Tax Dept will compile profiles on taxpayers from 1st April

The Income-Tax (I-T) Department will begin compiling comprehensive profiles on taxpayers from April 1, according to a Business Standard report. The move, which is a part of Project Insight, aims to track compliance of tax paying individuals and bring more people under the tax net, the paper said.

The department will collect information on taxpayers, including relationships, social networking, ITR status and asset details, the report said.

The database will also help identify errant taxpayers after demonetisation, and those with pending demands of above Rs 10 lakh. The tax department had on March 15 given instructions officials instructions to access the insight portal, The Economic Times reported.

The information on the portal will be segregated into various segments and include an integrated information management system, the report said.

One segment will have the taxpayer’s master profile, which includes address, signature and tax returns. The second segment, a business intelligence hub, will contain parameters to identify non-compliant taxpayers.

“The objective of this system is to leverage machine learning in organising, creating, sharing and using it for getting the right perspective at the right time,” an official told the publication.

The portal will also provide details of an individual’s movable and immovable assets to speeden recovery in cases where the pending dues exceed Rs 10 lakh.

Officials will also be able to monitor the status of cases where large sums of cash were deposited during demonetisation, the report added.

Project Insight, launched in 2017, uses data analytics to collect information from social media sites to identify mismatches between income declaration and spending patterns.

The Income Tax Department also has an agreement with L&T Infotech to help improve tax compliance. #casansaar (Source - Business Standard, Money Control)