The government's plan to use data obtained from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) filings to track those who are escaping income tax is one more step towards pinning down the tax evaders. This is the first time the government would be tallying indirect tax data with income tax filings in such a big way. Financial data can also come under a similar but closer scrutiny if data analytics is deployed to detect tax discrepancies. Some land-owners claim tax exemption on the basis of fake payment slips from vendors, thus proving that they had farmed the land before selling it.But now income tax department has a very effective way to find out such tax evaders. As government's data analytics drive started showing results next year, income tax will become an inescapable certainty.

Source: Economic Times December 06, 2017 06:45 UTC