New Delhi: The New Income Tax Bill allows officials to legally access people’s emails and social media accounts. If tax officers suspect an individual to be indulging in tax evasion, they will have the power to get access to the person’s personal emails, bank accounts, online investment accounts, trading accounts.
New Income Tax bill gives tax authorities the power to “gain access by overriding the access code to any said computer system, or virtual digital space, where the access code thereof is not available.”
The new bill also empowers tax officials “to enter and search any building, place, etc., where the keys thereof for the access to such building, place, etc., is not available.”
They will also have the power to search any person who has got out of, or is about to get into “virtual digital space” means an environment, area or realm, that is constructed and experienced through computer technology and not the physical, tangible world which encompasses any digital realm that allows users to interact, communicate and perform activities using computer
systems, computer networks, computer resources, communication devices, cyberspace, internet, worldwide web and emerging technologies, using data and information in the electronic form for creation or storage or exchange and includes ––
- email servers
- social media account
- online investment account, trading account, banking account, etc
- any website used for storing details of ownership of any asset
- remote server or cloud servers
- digital application platforms
- any other space of similar nature
The tax officers who will have the power to have access to all the above-mentioned aspects include:
- the Joint Director or the Additional Director
- the Joint Commissioner or the Additional Commissioner
- the Assistant Director or the Deputy Director
- the Assistant Commissioner or the Deputy Commissioner
- the Income-tax Officer or the Tax Recovery Officer
The New Income Tax Bill, 2025 grants extensive powers to tax officials, allowing them access to individuals’ emails, social media accounts, and online financial records if tax evasion is suspected. This includes the ability to override access codes and search physical and digital spaces. Personal Finance Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
