India may tax global tech firms; tax panel recommends use of AI

MNC tech firms may have to pay tax in India. Expert tax panel wants department to use AI for increasing collections.

CBDT looking to tax global tech companies

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will consider ways to tax global technology companies that maintain operations in the country while they invoice their revenues out of India, The Times of India reported.

The government body will take up the matter at an upcoming meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the report said. 

India is likely to help countries come to a consensus and bring laws in accordance with international practices. 

Recently, Ashish Aggarwal, senior director and head of public policy at industry lobby Nasscom told TechCircle that the high rates of goods and services tax (GST) levied on training and skill development could hurt the IT sector. 

Tax panel recommends use of AI

The direct tax panel has recommended the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in tax administration processes, Business Standard reported. 

The adoption of AI has been mooted to help improve compliance and broaden the tax base. 

Headed by Akhilesh Ranjan, principal chief commissioner of income tax, the direct tax panel made the recommendation among other suggested changes for the taxation process. 

Harnessing AI would help authorities bring more taxable and potential income-earners into the tax net, the report said. 

Hiring tech talent getting difficult

As many as 42% of technology companies surveyed struggle to recruit quality tech talent, according to a new study by consulting major Mercer Mettl, The Economic Times reported.

Top-tier tech talent is hard to recruit and retain on account of inadequate knowledge regarding technology-driven best practices and the widening gap between the demand for talent from enterprises and supply, the study found. 

The Mercer Mettl report, titled Tech Hiring & Technology Adoption Trends 2019,  is based on a survey of 350 executives from over 200 companies. 

Last year, human resources consulting platform Mercer had acquired Mettl, a Gurugram-based online skills assessment startup for an undisclosed amount. The move was seen as a foray into the global talent assessment market.