The income tax department is planning to launch an integrated platform to further strengthen its technology wherewithal to analyse the databases of IT returns, IT forms, TDS/TCS statements, Annual Information Return,

The income tax department is planning to launch an integrated platform to further strengthen its technology wherewithal to analyse the databases of IT returns, IT forms, TDS/TCS statements, Annual Information Return, etc in order to track tax evaders.

The department today signed a contract with L&T Infotech for the project called Project Insight. The Project will be rolled out in three phases and the first phase is expected to go live in May 2017.

According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), this integrated platform would play a key role in widening of tax-base and data mining to track tax evaders. The new platform will also be used for implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Inter Governmental Agreement (FATCA IGA) and Common Reporting Standard. Implementation of reporting compliance management system will ensure that the third party reporting by reporting entities is timely and accurate. A streamlined data exchange mechanism will also be set up with other government departments and exchange partners.

The tax department has data of over 17 crore PAN holders and 4.5 crore returns filed (as of assessment year 2012-13). They have been using these data to catch tax evaders. For example, the tax department noticed that in 2014-15, around 1.85 crore people paid TDS but did not file return.

Just yesterday, Atulesh Jindal, chairman CBDT, told media that they have put together a database of about 9 lakh high-value transactions. Of these, nearly one lakh transactions involve purchases or investments exceeding Rs 1 crore and could come under scrutiny for tax evasion.