The agency is empowered to get a hold of the necessary data via multiple agencies, eliminating the need to resort to such measures.
Clearing the air on the subject of social media surveillance by the Income Tax Department, a top official told The Economic Times that the agency has other, more reliable ways to keep a check on undisclosed income. The I-T department does not need to track people’s social media posts pertaining to their foreign trips or expensive goods purchased in order to monitor undisclosed income, the official added.
When asked whether the tax department tracked people’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media handles to monitor their income and spending patterns, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman PC Mody said the agency is empowered to get a hold of the necessary data via multiple agencies, eliminating the need to resort to such measures. A strong data analytics setup enables the department to efficiently assess the source and destination of such high-value transactions, he added.
News reports in the past have suggested that the I-T department keeps an eye on social media platforms to ensure that people pay the due taxes. "We already get to know actual travel details or other financial transactions of a person from authentic sources," Mody added.
Mody said a new and advanced data analytics system, named ‘Project Insight’, has been deployed by the department, that provides 360-degree insight into someone’s entire transaction trail. This, he added, helps them arrive at an understanding of sectors which should be taxed more and those where relief could be extended.
He also talked of an SMS-based service the government is working on, to intimate individuals of at least 18 different types of transactions they have undertaken above a certain monetary limit, another move aimed at enhancing a non-adversarial relationship between the taxpayer and the tax collector.
Measures such as these, he said, were necessitated after data analytics hinted that high spenders were probably not filing their returns. The aim is to create a tax compliant society, he said.
