Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, who retired recently, has a cheeky way to describe the tax department’s new-found prowess — it’s ability to put two-and-two together in identifying tax evaders, digitally, electronically and with precision. “All major transactions are being shown in 26AS. How much stocks you purchased, how much mutual funds, which property you purchased or sold, how much is your fixed deposit, how much money have you remitted abroad, so that even by mistake he does not forget to include those transactions in the tax returns,” says Pandey with a straight face.
For years, tax authorities operated in silos. Even within the finance minis-try, information sharing was case to case and occasional. Information matching from other transactions such as land, share market and mutual funds and large value…
