Better intelligence sharing yields Rs 78 cr addl tax revenue

Finance Ministry has achieved Rs 78 crore additional income during 2012-13 due to better intelligence sharing among central and state tax authorities engaged in checking the leakage of revenue.
The result was part of work done by Regional Economic Intelligence Councils (REICs), which were constituted to enable better coordination among central and state intelligence and enforcement agencies across the country.
The move to set up the REICs has led to a significant increase in the quantum of revenue collected. While in 2012- 13, an amount of Rs 78.32 crore has been realised, the collection for 2011-12 was Rs 16.70 crore, a Finance Ministry official said.

As many as 253 cases were shared by the member agencies of the REICs out of which 78 have so far been picked up by other members for further action during 2013-14. An additional revenue of Rs 5.63 crore has been realised from these cases in the current fiscal, he said.
Of the total revenue realised during 2012-13, Rs 22.11 crore accounted for evasion of payments of service tax, central excise and customs duty while Rs 4.43 crore was collected for income tax evasion.
Tax authorities in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Madurai and Mumbai had collectively realised Rs 51.78 crore in the last fiscal, the official said.

There are 22 REICs in the country at locations such as Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Goa, Delhi, Kochi, Madurai, Mumbai, Raipur, Shillong and Vadodara, among others.

The REICs include officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Central Board of Excise and Customs, Reserve Bank of India, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence, state police and tax authorities as members.
The Finance Ministry has issued a stern warning for tax evaders and is putting in every effort to check revenue leakage.
The Ministry is also implementing a first-of-its-kind amnesty scheme for service tax defaulters. The Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme (VCES), announced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, came into effect from May 10 this year.

VCES allows a service tax defaulter to pay off dues without any penalty or late payment charges. Under the scheme, a person may make a declaration before the designated authority on or before December 31, 2013.