LPG subsidy: Income Tax dept to inform Oil Ministry on taxpayers earning over Rs 10 lakh

I-T department will soon sign a MoU with the Ministry in order to confidentially and safely begin this transfer of personal data

The Income Tax department will soon begin sharing with the Petroleum and Oil Ministry details of all "individual" taxpayers whose annual income exceeds Rs 10 lakh, in an attempt to check pilferage of subsidy on cooking gas by the higher income groups.

The tax department, apart from sharing the names of such people, will also share personal details of a taxpayer like his or her Permanent Account Number (PAN), date of birth, gender, all available addresses in the I-T database, email id and the residential phone and mobile numbers of such taxpayers.

The I-T department will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry in order to confidentially and safely begin this transfer of personal data.

The move has been approved by the policy-making body of the department, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), in the backdrop of government's decision which had said that tax payers with annual income of more than Rs 10 lakh will not get subsidised cooking gas (LPG).

"This tax data with the Oil Ministry will ensure that all those who have income above Rs 10 lakh per year will automatically be barred from getting subsidised cooking gas cylinders. While some have already given up this subsidy voluntarily, there are many who have not given it up.

"The government wants to check pilferage in this regard. The roll out of the process will begin soon," a senior official said.

At present, all households are entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates.

The government has already asked well-off people to voluntarily give up using subsidised LPG and instead buy cooking fuel at market price.

The government, while announcing this decision last year, had said it "has decided that the benefit of the LPG subsidy will not be available for LPG consumers if the consumer or his/her spouse had taxable income of more than Rs 10 lakh during the previous financial year computed as per the Income Tax Act, 1961.