AI Font Check Exposes ₹68 Lakh Capital Gains Tax Fraud In a major case that shows how powerful technology can be in catching tax fraud, the Income Tax
AI Font Check Exposes ₹68 Lakh Capital Gains Tax Fraud
In a major case that shows how powerful technology can be in catching tax fraud, the Income Tax Department has uncovered a fake claim of over ₹68 lakh in capital gains tax using AI font analysis.
What Happened?
A person in Hyderabad sold a property for ₹1.4 crore. To pay less tax, he claimed he had spent ₹68.7 lakh on improving the property (called "cost of improvement") and used this amount to reduce his taxable capital gains in his Income Tax Return.
How He Got Caught
He submitted bills to prove his expenses. But one of the bills was suspicious — it was dated 6 July 2002 and showed an expense of ₹7.68 lakh. When the Income Tax team checked it using AI tools, they found that the text in the bill was written in Calibri font — a font that did not exist publicly in 2002.
- Calibri was created between 2002 and 2004, but became available to the public only in 2006.
- It became the default font in Microsoft Office in 2007.
- This proved that the bill was forged.
What the Taxpayer Said
The taxpayer could not provide the original bills. He said the photocopies were found in an old file that belonged to his late father.
After this discovery, he:
- Withdrew his earlier false claim.
- Filed a revised return without the fake expenses.
- Paid tax correctly on the actual capital gains.
Why This Is Important
This case shows how AI and digital forensics are now being used to detect tax fraud. The use of AI to check fonts helped catch a serious case of forgery. It proves that modern technology can help the Income Tax Department ensure that people follow the rules and pay the correct tax.
Key Takeaways:
- AI was used to detect forged documents in a capital gains tax case.
- The taxpayer had claimed ₹68.7 lakh in fake expenses to avoid paying tax.
- The fake bills were caught because they used a font that didn’t exist in 2002.
- After being caught, the person corrected his return and paid the due tax.
For more such tax news and updates, visit: www.saraltaxindia.com
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