On 11th September 2017, The Union Finance Ministry, has announced that is has planned to launch ‘Project Insight’ from October, 2017, in a move to restrict black money holdings and transactions.
Project Insight:
i.The Government has signed a contract with L&T Infotech Ltd., regarding ‘Project Insight’.
ii.The aim of this project is to observe and check high value transactions, and track tax evaders with the help of technology to restrict black money holdings.
iii.The project will use data mining and big data analytics technologies to find tax evaders from social media platforms by calculating mismatches between their spending pattern and income generated.
iv.This will also help taxpayers resolve simple tax related issues through online, without having to visit the Income tax office.
Puropose of Project Insight :
i.The linking of PAN (Permanent Account Number) with Aadhaar will help identify and analyze the transactions of tax payers.
ii.This Information Technology method is non-intrusive. Whereas, the earlier method was search and seize, which was highly intruding the tax payers.
iii.This method will use the government databases of IT forms, IT returns, TDS/TCS statements and transaction statements received from financial institutions etc.
iv.It would create a reporting compliance management system that would ensure that the third party reporting entities like banks and other financial institutions report in time and accurately.
v.It would also set up a data exchange mechanism for other government departments.
vi.It would also be used to implement Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Inter Governmental Agreement (FATCA IGA) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
vii.IT Department is about to set up a new Compliance Management Centralised Processing Centre (CMCPC) to carry out preliminary verification, campaign management, generation of bulk letters/notices and follow-up.
About the Finance Ministry:
Headquarters – New Delhi
Minister – Mr.Arun Jaitley
Deputy Ministers (Ministers of State) – Mr.Arjun Ram Meghwal, Mr.Santhosh Gangwar