Lok Sabha Question No. 1063 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-08
Subject: Income Tax Department
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: E. T. MOHAMMED BASHEER

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1063

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY THE 8TH FEBRUARY, 2019 19 MAGHA, 1940 (SAKA)

## "INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT"

## 1063: SHRI ET: MOHAMMED BASHEER

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has taken any measures / steps to enhance the technology backbone of the Income Tax Department;

- (b) if s0, the details thereof;
- (c) whether any time frame has been stipulated in this regard; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE: (SHRI SHIV PRATAP SHUKLA)

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(a) & (b) Yes sir: The Government is continuously taking several initiatives to enhance the technology   backbone of   the Income Tax   Department   (ITD) ITD is a dedicated directorate called Directorate of System which handles the technology aspects of the various functions of the Department A brief highlight of the technological developments which are currently implemented include Centralised Processing Centres for Income Tax Returns and TDS returns namely CPC(ITR) and CPC(TDS) respectively, centralised selection of cases for scrutiny   through CASS  cycle(Computer Assisted   Scrutiny  Selection), Non-filer   Monitoring System for managing the non-filers with potential tax liabilities, System driven process for dispatch and credit of tax refunds through Refund Banker Scheme, E-nivaran module for resolving the tax-payers' grievances on priority, Centralised receipt of applications of tax-payers through Sevottam Application of Aayakar Seva Kendras etc: In addition to this, the Government has also initiated / proposed to initiate the following projects, as elaborated in the annexure, towards further improving the technology back bone of the ITD which would result in enhanced time bound services to the tax payers in addition to increasing the voluntary compliance of the tax-payers. having being

(c ) & (d) As improving the technalogy backbone of the ITD is a continuous process and various initiatives are taken from time to time, no time frame can be specified: being

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A brief   highlights of the few   technology oriented projects   being implemented /proposed to be implemented by the Government are as follows:

1. Project Insight: It aims to strengthen the non-intrusive information driven approach for improving compliance and effective utilization of information in all areas of tax administration: Under Project Insight an integrated data warehousing and business intelligence platform is being rolled out in phased manner to enable ITD in meeting the three goals namely (i) to promote voluntary compliance and deter non-compliance; (ii) to impart confidence that all eligible persons pay appropriate tax; and (iii) to promote fair and judicious tax administration: The current status of implementation is as under:
2. A State-of-the-Art Data warehouse has been  implemented under Project Insight with end- of-day integration of projects/data sources of Income Tax Department Income Tax Transaction Analysis Centre  (INTRAC) has also been operationalized for handling data integration, data   warehousing data quality management; data enrichment and data analytics The new platform is used for identifying high risk non-filers, selection of cases for scrutiny and processing of information received under Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI), FATCA etc key being
3. (ii) A dedicated reporting portal [https: / /report insight-gov.in] has been rolled out to provide a comprehensive interface between Reporting Entities and the Income-tax Department: The Reporting Portal enables seamless data processing data quality monitoring and report rectification:
4. (iii) A dedicated compliance portal [https: / /complianceinslghtgov.in] has been rolled out to capture response on compliance issues in a structured manner for effective compliance monitoring and evaluation: Compliance Management Central Processing Centre (CMEPC) has also been operationalized for leveraging campaign of  emails, SMS, reminders, outbound  calls, letters) to support voluntary compliance and resolution of compliance issues
5. (iv) The complete roll out of the Project Insight will be in 2019.
6. 2 Real Time PAN-TAN centre: Real Time PAN/TAN Processing Centre (RTPC) is contemplated for future with the objective of allotment of e-PAN through Aadhaar based e-KYC on near to real time basis   (in less than 10 minutes): Presently, steps are taken by the ITD to further reduce the time required to allot PAN, particularly-for the s applying through Aadhaar based e-KYC' route, by bringing suitable upgradation in the allotment processes and infrastructure: being being applicant'=
7. 3 Eproceeding   facility for the conduct of scrutiny assessment proceedings: In a significant in 2017, ITD developed an Integrated platform ie: Income Tax Business Application  (ITBA) functions /proceedings including assessments This is integrated with the 'E-filing' portal which is used by the tax payers to electronically communicate with the ITO. During the course of assessment proceeding, Assessing Officer is required to send communications through the Assessment Module" of ITBA which is delivered in the 'E-filing' account of concerned tax-payer: Upon   receipt departmental communication, the tax-payer is able to submit the response with attachments by uploading the same through his 'E-filing' account on the 'E-filing' The response submitted by the payer is viewed by the Assessing Officer electronically in ITBA This has minimised the interface between the assessing officer and the tax payers and has made the process of assessment non-intrusive and tax-payer   friendly: Further; vide Instruction No.l/2018 dated 12.02.2018 and Instruction No.3/2018 dated 20.08.2018, CBDT has directed that assessment proceedings are to be conducted electronically compulsorily through 'E-proceeding' the financial year 201819 in all type of cases barring a few exceptions specified therein: step, along taxduring -
8. 4 CPC (TDS) 2.0: CPC(TDS) project has undertaken end-to-end processing of TDS statements through a rule-based technology enabled system for seamless flow of data for tax-credits. In the next phase of CPC (TDS) i.e. CPC (TDS) 2.0,focus has been made on recognizing technology led innovations with respect to emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Analytics and Blockchain to further   improvement in service   delivery: The   proposed future architecture envisages   providing   online, seamless and real time of   statutory TDS statements natural systems through which the TDS statements will be prepared automatically straightaway from the accounting packages and submitted online on the departmental portal: bring filing using

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