Raid on Event Management Firm: I-T Seizes Over 300 KYC Forms of Banks.

According to sources, the event management firm was allegedly planning to open bank accounts of its employees to deposit money accepted by the firm in old currency.

The income tax department (I-T) has seized over 300 signed blank Know-Your-Customer (KYC) forms of at least three public sector banks along with self-attested photocopy of Aadhaar and PAN cards of hundreds of individuals in a tax raid on a prominent event management firm in Mumbai, sources familiar with the development told the Indian Express.

The tax department raided at least five offices of the event management firm on November 20 and recovered a couple of gunny bags full of KYC documents used for opening bank accounts and signed banks slips for exchange of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes along with self attested identity proof of several individuals mostly its employees.

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Income Tax Dept Will Mine Facebook, Twitter Data To Nab Tax Evaders Via Project Insight!

f you are an avid social media user, and love to flaunt your overseas travels and expensive iPhones but fail to declare accurate income to evade tax, then there is some bad news for you. Income Tax Department is all set to unleash Project Insight, which will use data mining, big data and analytics to scoop out tax evaders from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Last year, Income Tax Dept. had floated tenders to acquire high end analytics tool to scan social media profiles of rich Indians, and this year, hints are being given out that full scale data mining operations would start from next fiscal year.

An unnamed official from Income Tax department said, “If you flaunt that you have gone on an expensive trip to a foreign location on Facebook and other social media, we will gather that information to match it with your income declared..”

Project Insight would be rigorously executed effective financial year 2017-18; and an approximate budget of Rs 1000 crore has been allocated for the same.

Your Social Media Profile Would Be Audited Now

Traditionally, Income Tax Dept. conducted random searches, known as tax raids at homes/offices of those citizens who declared less income to evade tax. But now, as every information is easily available on social media, technology would be used to conduct such raids online, right into your personal social media profiles.

As per incoming reports, IT Dept. has chalked out an extensive and detailed blueprint to track tax evaders using technology such as enterprise data warehouse, data mining, web mining, predictive modeling, data exchange, master data management, centralised processing, compliance management and case analytics capabilities.

Another set of reports indicate that L&T Infotech has been roped in to consult Income Tax dept. for scanning and profiling tax evaders using their social media data.

Just like Google ranks every website based on their internal factors for search engine results, IT Dept. will rank such tax evaders, depending on the level of income mismatch found based on the actual filing of data, and the expenses incurred (as found from their social media postings). This ranking would help them to prioritize their actions and counter-actions.

For instance, if a businessman flaunts their Europe trip and Rolex watches on his Facebook account, but has declared income of only Rs 10 lakh per annum, then IT Dept. will right away trace that businessman and demand some strict answers.

The official furthersaid, “Project Insight will essentially do data mining. It will use inputs from various sources. Social media would be one of those..”

PAN Card Would Be The Unique Identifier

Humanly, it is not possible to track 120 crore+ population, hence technology is being used to track the income and spending of tax evaders. In this mission, PAN Card of every citizen would be used as the ‘unique identifier’, which will help IT Dept. to pinpoint the tax evaders with high level of precision.

Besides, various data points from other Govt. departments such as excise department, Central Board of Direct Taxes, house and wealth tax departments and banks would be collated and collaborated to find out those who spending much more than they are declaring.

Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha had earlier said aboutProject Insight: “This will enhance the department’s ability to monitor the flow of funds and will provide an audit trail of high value transactions and curb circulation of black money..”

At a time when only 4-5% of Indians are paying income tax, this is indeed an excellent step to increase participation of Indian citizens in nation building.

Do you think data mining and big data can assist Income Tax department to catch tax evaders in India? What if rich people stop posting their extravaganzas online? Do share your views by commenting right here!

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Jewellers shut shops for 5th day after Income Tax survey

Gold and jewellery establishments in the national capital remained closed for the 5th day today after the Income Tax Department conducted surveys following reports of alleged profiteering and tax evasion by traders and other operators in reported conversion of demonetised notes.

The survey operations were carried out on November 10 in at least four locations in Delhi-NCR region, including Dariba Kalan, Chandni Chowk and Karol Bagh.

Most jewellery houses have been closed since November 11 in the national capital.

According to the sources, the officials of Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI), an arm under the Finance Ministry, has sent notices to these jewellers seeking details of the gold sales. 

Income Tax department is preparing for swoop on dubious depositors post Dec 30

 Come 2017, and the Income Tax department is preparing to serve notices on all those now depositing money in banks that is disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Informed sources said the department will start serving the notices just after December 30 -- the deadline set by the central government to deposit and exchange the demonetised Rs 500 and 1,000 notes.

These high-value notes ceased to be legal tender from November 8 midnight, only a few hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a dramatic announcement about their spiking.

The Income Tax department started preparing the notices from November 10 -- when banks opened across the country after a day's closure following the demonetisation announcement.

The notices will go to those who have deposited or received cash in their accounts more than double their income, a highly placed Finance Ministry source told IANS, adding that the department had deputed special teams to track such account holders across India.

The concerned staff is reportedly working till late into the night every day, using extra manpower. People have been hired for the job at Rs 1,000 a day, the sources said.

Where it suspects fishy deposits, the Income Tax department will also monitor the last six months of inflow and outflow in these accounts.

The government fears that many people are putting their undeclared income in the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana bank accounts of their employees and touts.

These accounts were opened with zero balance -- for the poor.

Separate teams have been told to track the source of income of suspected bank account holders, the sources said.

Also being tracked -- using an array of secret information -- are cash dealings and property purchases by suspicious account holders.

The transactions under the tax lens include cash deposits of Rs 2.5 lakh or more in a savings bank account and sale or purchase of immovable property valued at Rs 30 lakh or more.

"Those who have exchanging demonetised currencies on a regular basis may face Income Tax heat," an official said.

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Demonetised notes worth Rs 4.5 cr seized in Gujarat

The demonetised 500- and 1,000-rupee currency notes worth Rs 4.45 crore have been seized from three separate places in the state, the state police said on Monday.

Acting on a tip-off on Monday, the police intercepted a mini truck in Rajkot district and seized 10 bags full of demonetised high-value currency notes with a face value of Rs 2.5 crore from four persons.

The truck belonged to a local pump manufacturing company, which was allegedly taking the cash to its owner's residence at Menderna. The cash was handed over to the Income Tax Department for further investigation, the police said.

A team from Jetpur police station in the same district nabbed two persons from a car with cash worth Rs 50 lakh in old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

Such notes worth around Rs 1.45 crore were also seized by the police from two different places in Narmada and Vadodara districts on Sunday. Two persons were also arrested.

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