India: First country to use AI/ML in tax assessment

India will soon become the first country to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the tax assessment process, as the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has promised to adopt faceless assessment system from October this year. According to official sources, the government is very particular about the deadline of the implementation. In this regard, the revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Panday on last Saturday held a meeting of officials of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and various tax agencies. The government has set the deadline of October 8, for the implementation of AI and ML for the assessment purposes. Now data in the income tax return, statement of financial transactions and from other sources will be analysed as per the pre-defined risk criteria.