Tax dept to share assessee data with NATGRID

The National Intelligence Grid or NATGRID, a network aimed at sharing information about terrorists among security agencies, will now be getting access to the income tax department's PAN records and individual taxpayers' data.

The ambitious project, conceived by the then home minister P Chidambaram during UPA II’s rule, will soon be getting new powers to access tax payers' information after it signs a memorandum of understanding with the income tax department.

According to an order issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the department will share 'bulk information', starting from Permanent Account Number (PAN) to the taxpayer's name and all the individual data that it captures like father's name, gender, date of birth, photograph and signature or thumb impression.

The department will also share with the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) all information available in the department's database regarding residential and office addresses, addresses for communication, email addresses and phone and mobile numbers of all the taxpayers.

The MoU with NATGRID, that functions under the Union home ministry, will also include a confidentially clause so that personal data is safe from transfer.

As per data, while there are over 25 crore PAN holders in the country, the actual number of taxpayers is about 5 crore.

NATGRID, which is still in a nascent stage, in different phases, will connect data providing organisations and users besides developing a legal structure through which information can be accessed by the law enforcement agencies.

In the first phase, 10 user agencies and 21 service providers will be connected. Later, about 1,950 additional organisations will be linked in the subsequent phases.

These data sources include records related to immigration entry and exit, banking and financial transactions and telecommunications. The agencies include the Intelligence Bureau, local police and revenue and customs departments.

While the clearance for the Rs 3,400 crore project from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) came in 2011, its execution slowed down after the exit of Chidambaram in July 2012.

Around 70 personnel, drawn from both the government and private sectors, are currently working in NATGRID.