By CA Jatin Minocha
According to sources, the tax department has accessed the entire passenger data captured on the Digi Yatra app, and the same is being reconciled with tax filings to check for discrepancies in the declared income. The tax department would start issuing notices in 2025 based on the Digi Yatra data, said sources.
Digi Yatra app is a civil aviation ministry led initiative to make air traveller’s journey seamless and paperless. It uses facial recognition technology, and collects passengers ID, biometrics, and details of air tickets to give easy access at airports. It is, however, not mandatory for fliers to download or use the app.
According to sources, the tax department will first go after those who don’t file tax returns, and then target those who under-report their income to avoid paying taxes.
Digi Yatra data holds immense potential as an alternative to the government’s earlier attempts to gather travel data through loyalty pro-grammes of air travel companies, a move constrained by privacy concerns.
By leveraging such data, authorities can achieve greater transparency and precision in tracking high-risk taxpayers, provided that appropriate safeguards for data privacy and proportionality are in place.
It must be recalled that air travellers have raised privacy concerns over the collection data on the app. However, the authorities have maintained that data is not stored in any central repository, and that it is stored locally in the phone of the passenger.
👉 The GST department is reportedly monitoring UPI payments to track unregistered businesses. Platforms like PhonePe, GPay, Razorpay, and other payment gateways are being tapped for data by the tax authorities.
Small vendors, shopkeepers, retailers, food stall owners might soon find themselves under scrutiny as the Indian Tax Department tightens its grip on compliance. It’s a new era where digital payments could open doors for tax investigations, even for street-side businesses!
👉 The Haryana government on Saturday approved the proposal to increase external development charges (EDC) of various potential real estate zones in the state by 20% for 2025, and a 10% increase every year from 2026.
EDC is the fee collected from real estate developers to build external infrastructure facilities outside the boundaries of a project, such as roads, drains, electrical infrastructure, water and sewage lines. EDC is calculated by the department of town and country planning (DTCP) area-wise, depending on the potential for growth of a particular residential, commercial, industrial or mixed-use locality. The rates were last revised in 2015.
👉 Companies delaying payments by more than 45 days to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) for goods or services purchased from them are required to provide additional information in a revised MCA MSME form 1, according to a July 15 notification by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The half-yearly form introduced by the government in January 2019 earlier required buyers to share information on the amount due, date from which it is due and the reason for the delay under the Specified Companies (Furnishing of information about payment to micro and small enterprise suppliers) Order, 2019.
Now The revised form also asks for the amount paid within 45 days through the invoice discounting platform TReDS or other payment mode, amount paid after 45 days, amount outstanding for 45 days or less and amount outstanding for over 45 days other than the reason for the delay in payment or outstanding amount and name and PAN of the MSE supplier.
About the Author
CA Jatin Minocha runs a popular CA Practice at New Delhi by the name of Minocha & Company which he established in January 2002
It was formed with the objective to provide a wide array of services including audit, income tax, indirect tax and many other services in Delhi & NCR. It constitutes a team of finance & legal professionals from Industry, Banking & Financial fields having substantial exposure and expertise in their respective areas.
The company has a strong team of professionals with a collective expertise of over 20 years in these fields and has undertaken and successfully executed various assignments.
Company has considerable experience in the Industry and has managed audits and taxation work for various Pvt ltd companies , limited companies , multinational companies, banks, Govt Institutions, NRI and High Net worth Individuals.
More here https://cajatinminocha.com/
