Genuine taxpayers need not worry about deposits in note ban, assures revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia

NEW DELHI: Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said the goods and services tax is on schedule for implementation later this year and that there would be no harassment of genuine taxpayers over deposits of old notes in the wake of demonetisation.

The government has been able to mine data following the currency swap announcement on November 8 and match deposits to income profiles. But enough safeguards have been built into the system to prevent persecution.

“First of all, we have never gone beyond our mandate of taking up more than 1 per cent of cases for scrutiny,” Adhia said. “The question is that because of demonetisation there is a large amount of data which we have got and that data people are fearing will be misused for harassing people.”


The 18 lakh account holders that have come to attention as a result of this data mining will be given a chance to explain their sources of income.

“We have not allowed this data to be sent directly to the field authority for use,” Adhia pointed out. “We have put this entire data into the e-filing website filing of each person in the form of Operation Clean Money.”

Progress is being made on the rules and procedures for goods and services tax (GST), the country’s biggest indirect tax reform.

“Rules are being framed,” Adhia said. “Hopefully, both the rules and the law should be in place by February-end, sealed and approved by the GST Council. By March 31, Parliament should also approve it as state assemblies will take some time.”