India’s large taxpayers—including corporates, foreign institutional investors and multinational companies—could soon move towards fully automated tax filings and compliance, as the central government opens up Application Programming Interface (API) access of its tax portals to third parties.
The government has already granted API access for Goods and Services Tax (GST) systems, while similar access for direct taxes under the Central Board of Direct Taxes and customs is expected to follow, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Industry experts say such access will allow consulting firms and technology providers to build Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools that significantly reduce manual intervention in tax compliance.
The move is significant as large companies currently rely on multiple government portals to track filings, notices and litigation across GST, income tax and customs. While most returns are now filed online, several processes—such as tracking tax appeals—still require manual checks across disparate systems.
An email sent to the finance ministry seeking comment remained unanswered.
“The government-released APIs are a critical enabler in transforming tax compliance into a streamlined, technology-led function. These APIs allow large taxpayers to integrate their internal accounting and compliance systems directly with the government’s tax ecosystem,” said a person familiar with the development. “Consultants can now combine this access with AI tools to create systems that require minimal human intervention.”
For instance, when an appeal is filed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, taxpayers currently need to repeatedly visit the tribunal’s website to track updates. With API-based integration, such status updates could flow directly into a company’s internal systems.
On the GST side, APIs already allow companies to monitor the MSME status of their vendors and automatically comply with special provisions, such as ensuring payment of MSME dues within 45 days. Customs compliance is another area expected to benefit, as it has historically suffered from limited integration with GST systems, particularly for import-export focused businesses where the two regimes are closely linked.
An Consulting firm told Moneycontrol it has already built a technology solutions suite using GST APIs and expects the scope to expand once access is granted for direct taxes and customs.
“If the government makes APIs available for direct tax or customs, we would be able to integrate them into our existing applications. This would include PAN validation, customs validation, return filings, bills of entry filings and fetching of government notices,” said Prashanth Agarwal, partner, tax technology, they said. “This would help clients build real-time controls, achieve faster and more accurate compliance, and better monitor and manage litigation.”
For large taxpayers, the shift could mark a decisive move away from fragmented, manual compliance towards near real-time, system-driven tax governance.
