Facial recognition for taxpayers launched

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh commercial taxes department in collaboration with the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) launched new biometric face authentication feature through a mobile application with effect from January 1, according to chief commissioner of commercial taxes Babu A.

He said in a statement here on Tuesday that the biometric face authentication is aimed at streamlining the verification process while preventing bogus taxpayers from entering the GST ecosystem at the registration stage, thus protecting the system from the misuse of fake Input Tax Credit (ITC).

Additionally, it offers enhanced security against the misuse of Aadhaar details and the creation of fake identity cards, safeguarding innocent individuals whose Aadhaar information may have been misused, and ensuring that only legitimate taxpayers are enrolled in the system. Babu A also said that currently, there are 12 GST Seva Kendras (GSKs) across the state where biometric verification is done using fingerprint or iris scanners. To enhance convenience and accessibility, GSTN has developed a mobile application compatible with Android devices (phones or tablets).

This new app enables Biometric Authentication Officers (BAOs) at GSKs to carry out the verification process without the need of any hardware devices.

The new mobile app allows BAOs to log in, enter the Aadhaar details, and capture the applicant’s photo for face authentication and verification in a single step.

By using the new functionality, biometric verification will now be completed in two steps instead of the previous three like photo capture and face authentication and document verification.