LPG subsidy: I-T to inform Oil Min on taxpayers earning over Rs 10L

The Income Tax department will soon begin sharing personal data--like PAN, residential address and mobile number--of a taxpayer earning over Rs 10 lakh per annum with the Oil Ministry as part of government’s initiative to effectively block subsidised cooking gas to higher income groups.

As part of the official deal between the two government departments, the taxman will also share the date of birth, gender, email id, residential phone number and all available addresses of the 

taxpayer in its database so that the Petroleum and Oil Ministry could zero down on each LPG subscriber who is availing the subsidy beyond the stipulated rules and has not voluntarily given it up.

The I-T department will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Oil Ministry in order to begin this transfer of personal taxpayer data, in a “confidential and safe” manner.

The department, till now, used to share such proprietary data with Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) like police, CBI, ED and others with a rider that they should not share this information with anyone else and use it for their investigation purposes only.

The latest move has also 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).