Use AI to check tax evasions, CM tells officials

“Explore new avenues for the government to earn money and at the same time investigate the reasons behind low income in certain areas,” he said at a review meeting he held at the Secretariat with officials of revenue- generating departments on Wednesday.

The whole process, right from tax payments to issuing receipts and notices, should be done only online, the CM stressed.

Naidu said an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled review of the occupancy certificates issued by the municipal department has shown that over 1,000 builders had not registered themselves with the tax system. “We should give all kinds of approvals to only those who have GST registrations,” he said.

The CM said officials should use AI for identifying tax evaders. The same process should be adopted by all revenue-generating departments to ensure strict tax collection. Traders should be informed that tax payments and getting permissions become easy by utilising new technology, he said.

He made it clear that the policy of the TD-led government was not to harass traders. Still, officials must ensure that all the tax dues are cleared by them. Information of all departments, including tax-payers, GST portal, state Data Centre and the state commercial taxes department (APCTD) would be interlinked with AI.

The CM also felt that the official machinery can be further accelerated by using AI even for issuing notices to taxpayers and for receiving grievances. “All the departments should ensure that the state's own revenue target of `1,37,412 cr set for this financial year is achieved to the full.”

Noting that a 2.2 per cent growth was recorded in the state's own revenue in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24 fiscal, the CM said that a 4.1 per cent growth was reported in the tax revenue to the state exchequer. The non-tax revenue, however, was not on the expected levels. In GST, a 4.9 per cent growth rate was recorded, a growth of 15.2 per cent in professional taxes and 24.3 per cent in excise revenue, he added.

If the revenue generation level after announcing the new excise policy is examined, the state revenue has improved, the revenue between October 2024 and March 2025 was `4,330cr, which was a 33 per cent growth in excise revenue. Similarly, in the municipal wing too, an additional revenue of `500 crore was recorded in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24, he said.

Observing that due of `2,500 crore were still pending, Naidu said a majority of these dues were related to taxes on central and state properties and levies on vacant lands.

Officials informed the CM that property taxes of `240 crore were collected in just six days after a 50 per cent interest subsidy was announced in March.