New Delhi, July 16 -- The income tax (I-T) department has revised its search and seizure manual 2025 which gives new powers to officers. This also includes the power to issue look out circulars more often against serial tax defaulters and alleged evaders, summon data from foreign crypto exchanges. The officers can even access taxpayers' credit histories to detect undeclared wealth, reports cnbctv18.

The manual aligns with the changes brought in the Finance Act 2025 and is a major step addressing growing risks linked with virtual digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

This is for the first time that the manual permits officers to access credit information from registered credit bureaus such as CRIF High Mark. This is seen as a...