The Revenue department has initiated proceedings against more than 10,000 people under the Benami Law for the suspicious transactions after demonetisation. The notice sends to 10,000 people sought for the details related to the source of income from those individuals.
Currently, the department is analyzing the data on deposits of cancelled notes which were deposited in banks post demonetisation move. People who have proper knowledge about the ongoings said that many others are likely to get similar notices in the coming days. “While the money may have come into the banking system, the money has come with a name,” a senior official who is close to the development stated. “Not just income tax but several government departments can now use the data for future investigations,” he said.
The Income Tax Department in India is using advanced technology and techniques to detect the tax evasion and it includes the PAN details, credit card, tax returns, phone records, data available on social media platforms and so on.
Post demonetisation, several suspicious financial transactions are bought under the tax department’s scrutiny after cross-referencing with previous data on cash deposits. The government is utilizing advanced tools for both structured as well as unstructured data and can easily analyze and establish relationships among different firms or people and this can go up to 16 levels deep, and based on the various information sets such as phone calls, IT returns, addresses, social media interaction, travel trends.
