As a part of post-demonetisation exercise, Income Tax Department had to analyse cash deposit data and seek information to identify possible cases of tax evasion. Operation Clean Money (OCM) was launched on 31st January 2017, with the mission to “Create a tax compliant society through a fair, transparent and non-intrusive tax administration where every Indian takes pride in paying taxes”.

Details of work carried out in the campaign are as under:

i.    The cash deposit data was analysed to identify persons whose cash transactions did not appear in line with the tax payer’s profile. Preliminary assessment was undertaken to analyse distribution of large cash deposits across various taxpayer segments (e.g. Business, Non-business etc.). This analysis resulted in identification of about 17.92 lakh persons for verification process in the first phase.

ii.    Online verification of cash transactions was enabled and the information in respect of the identified cases was made available in the e filing window of the PAN holder (after log in) at the portal https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. The taxpayer was able to submit online explanation without any need to visit Income Tax office. Email and SMS were sent to the taxpayers for submitting online response on the e-filing portal. There was an overwhelming response to online verification and nearly 11 Lakh persons submitted online response.

iii.    High risk cases were made available to the field formation using an internal online portal for effective monitoring and follow-up. The internal and external portals were integrated to enable seamless electronic communication with the taxpayer.

iv.    A dedicated web portal for ‘Operation Clean Money’ (OCM) (https://www.cleanmoney.gov.in) was launched to enable citizen engagement (pledge, contribution, feedback, social media integration etc.) and taxpayer education.

v.    Data analytics is used to match information in IT return with cash deposit data (including fuzzy matching) and identify high risk cases/groups for necessary verification/investigation.

This was stated by Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State for Finance in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Tax compliance verification through online cash deposit matching prompts targeted administrative investigations and taxpayer online responses. Post-demonetisation tax compliance initiative analysed cash deposit records to identify mismatches with taxpayer profiles, selecting about 17.92 lakh persons for verification. Taxpayers received electronic notices and could submit explanations via the e filing portal, with around 11 lakh online responses. High risk cases were routed to field formations through an integrated internal portal for monitoring and follow-up. Dedicated public and internal portals supported engagement, while data analytics, including fuzzy matching between deposits and returns, guided risk based case selection.