Showing off on social media? Government is spending Rs 1000 crore to Tax you down

Income Tax Department Project Insight: Social Media may soon come under the eyes of the Income Tax Department of India, to grab tax thieves and defaulters in the country. The IT department has initiated 'Project Insight' to bring tax thieves and people, who pose rich on social media, under surveillance. 

The department is all set to catch people who are posting pictures of their new car, new house, holidays, 5 star stays, expensive items etc on social media. The pictures and posts on social media will be matched with the individual's bank account by the IT department and if found fishy, the action will be initiated.

Tax evasion might get more difficult if not impossible with the introduction of Big Data Analytics into the Income Tax (I-T) Department’s system of tools to stop tax evasion starting April 1, 2019.  The Rs 1,000 crore programme would track your social networking profiles, keeping a close eye on the expenditure patterns through the pictures and videos uploaded.

If the purchases and travel expenses are found to be mismatched with the declared income of a person, the I-T officials would be informed and actions would follow against the suspicious.  The I-T Department has also given the tax officials access to the software from March 15th and the tracking will be going to start from the inception of the new financial year.

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If you are travelling to a foreign country, holiday destinations and posting pictures on your social media profiles, or even buying a luxury car (beyond your means as per your IT returns), the I-T Department can use Big Data to track them and check the mismatch between their earnings and spending.