Income Tax Bill 2025 Powers Tax Officials To Override Access Codes In Search & Seizure

Alankar Mishra

Author

Updated: 16-04-2025 at 12:42 PM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has rolled out the eagerly awaited Income Tax Bill 2025, which shall replace the Income Tax Act of 1961. The bill seeks to streamline taxation frameworks while enhancing clarity. However, additional powers are also granted to the tax administrators. One of the most notable changes now allows tax officials to breach access codes for computer systems, cloud servers, trading accounts, and online investment platforms during search and seizure activities.

Key Highlights

Feature	Details
New Provision	Tax officials can override access codes of computers, digital accounts, and cloud storage during searches.
Definition of Virtual Digital Space	Includes online investment/trading accounts, cloud servers, banking systems, and social media platforms.
Technical Assistance Requirement	Assesses must provide technical help, including access to digital records and credentials.
Search & Seizure Rules	Tax officials can demand access to sensitive financial systems without prior justification.
New "Tax Year" Concept	Replaces "Assessment Year" and "Previous Year," aligning tax periods with the financial year.

Search And Seizure Provisions: A Major Shift

Some of the most serious issues under the previous Income Tax Act were the sweeping powers of search and seizure allocated to tax authorities. The new bill keeps these provisions but adds more stringent compliance obligations for businesses and individuals.

Tax authorities can now enter business premises, charitable institutions and private homes to seize assets and records.
Owners, employees, trustees, and any person present shall grant access to highly confidential information.
Tax officers can force their way through access codes in the absence of cooperation.

Virtual Digital Space: Expanded Definition

The term “Virtual Digital Space” is included in the bill to expand the range of assets that can be pursued in a tax investigation. This comprises of:

Online trading and investment accounts.
Banking and financial institutions.
Social media accounts and emails.
Cloud and remote computing storage.
Digital applications and websites that hold details of ownership of the assets.

This means that tax authorities can now capture these sophisticated assets like seizing cash, gold, or property.

Mandatory Technical Assistance: What It Means For Taxpayers

The latest legislation states that people within the range during a search are expected to offer some form of technical support to the officials carrying out the tax audit. This involves:

Permitting entry to digital financial data.
Supplying credentials or passwords for internet accounts.
Assisting the officers in manoeuvring computers.

Fines or legal actions may be taken against those that do not comply.

New "Tax Year" Concept: Simplifying Tax Calculations

A notable aspect of Income By Bill 2025 is the modification of “Assessment Year” and “Previous Year” to now “Tax Year”.

The Tax Year follows the same period as the financial year when income is received and tax is paid.
The goal behind this modification is to aid businesses and individuals in better tax compliance and value-added taxation calculations.

Privacy Concerns and Compliance Burden

Although the bill intends to capture as much information as possible, it raises privacy and compliance burden issues.

Access to Private Digital Accounts:

People in power will have the ability to completely override social media, banking, and investment accounts.
It can be misused or used to access information without authorization.

Increased Surveillance on Digital Transactions:

“Undisclosed income” now covers crypto assets and NFTs.
Online trading and other financial dealings are placed under greater restriction.

Higher Compliance Costs for Businesses

Digital financial records also have to be made accessible to companies.
More support, both legal and technical, is needed during audits.

Conclusion

The Income Tax Bill 2025 proposes a significant transformation in the structure of tax enforcement and digital supervision. The overarching expectation of this new legislation is to enhance transparency and tax compliance, but it also grants tax officials more power to seize access to digital assets, online accounts, and cloud databases. The new bill does raise issues of privacy with the ability to override codes and fundamentally cooperate with consumers’ demands. Its impact on businesses and individuals and the financial sector as a whole would be keenly monitored as the bill progresses.

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