The Income Tax department is bringing out an initiative called 'Project Insight' from May 2017.To monitor high value transactions, with a view to curbing the circulation of black money. 'Project Insight’ is an integrated platform that will utilize vast amount of information easily available on social media to conduct raids online rather than traditional way of conducting random searches, known as tax raids. It will use data mining, big data and analytics to scoop out tax evaders from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It will also be leveraged for implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Inter Governmental Agreement (FATCA IGA) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
It will help in catching tax evaders in a non-intrusive manner using technology and without traditional intrusive methods like search and seizure. The integrated platform will play a key role in widening of tax base and data mining to track tax evaders. The reporting compliance management system of project will ensure that third party reporting by entities like banks and other financial institutions is timely and accurate. It will also set up a streamlined data exchange mechanism for other government departments.
