Punjab finance, planning, excise and taxation minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday said that the excise and taxation department has collected revenue worth ₹1,252.36 crore till November during the current financial year on the basis of the reports generated by data mining wing, which is almost three times as compared to the collection of ₹422.09 crore during the same period of last year.
In a statement, Cheema said that out of total revenue recovered, ₹279.01 crore was the revenue paid in cash and ₹973.35 crore was the reversal or adjustment of input tax credit (ITC). “Compared to this, last year’s revenue collection till November 2021 on the basis of reports shared by data mining wing was ₹422.09 crore, out of which ₹261.68 crore was revenue paid in cash and ₹160.41 crore was ITC reversed or adjusted,” he said.
Emphasising on the technological advancement to crack down on tax evasions rather than harassing the tax payers through the ‘Inspector Raj’, the finance minister said that the data mining wing has been detecting tax evasion activities with the help of ETTSA (Departments own Technical Service Agency) and various platforms that includes Boweb Portal, Eway bill portal, SAS tool, BIFA and JPAL etc. “The data mining wing prepares reports based on irregularities and discrepancies detected in the data provided by GSTN and ETTSA. These reports are being shared with concerned wings of the department for necessary action besides ensuring the compliance from them,” he added. The tax intelligence unit established by the excise and tax department was also an important decision taken in this direction.