Tax Dept To Start Sharing Sales Data On Small Businesses With MSME Ministry

The income tax department will soon start sharing data related to depreciation, sales and gross turnover of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with the MSME Ministry.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has directed Principal Director General of Income Tax (Systems) to share this information with the MSME Ministry.

Section 138 of the Income Tax Act empowers the tax authorities to share information/ details of its taxpayers with other government agencies, as may be notified.

The information shared will include depreciation on plant and machinery as reported in ITR3, 5 and 6, sales/gross receipts of business as reported in ITR-3, 5 and 6; and gross turnover/gross receipts as reported in ITR-4.

"To facilitate the process of furnishing information, Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) would enter into a Memorandum of Understanding ('MoU') with Notified Authority of Ministry of MSME, Government of India which inter-alia would include the mode of transfer of data. Maintenance of confidentiality, mechanism for safe preservation of data, weeding out after usage etc," the CBDT order dated 14 July said.

The timeline for furnishing information will also be decided by Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) in consultation with the concerned Ministry and included in the said MoU, the order added.

Recently under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package, the government changed the definition of MSMEs.

After the revision, micro-units are those with investments up to Rs 1 crore and a turnover of less than Rs 5 crore. Small units are ones with investments up to Rs 10 crore and turnover of less than Rs 50 crore. Medium units are those with investments up to Rs 20 crore and turnover of less than Rs 100 crore.