Hyderabad, March 9 -- The Income Tax bill, introduced in February 2025, significantly expands tax authorities' powers beyond the Income Tax Act, 1961 and allows officials to access assessees' email and social media accounts.

As per Section 247, officials can access and search any "virtual digital space"-broadly defined under Section 261(i) as social media, emails, and online accounts-if tax evasion is suspected, effective April 1, 2026.

Present Income Tax Act allows officials to seize assets, books

In the current Income Tax Act, 1961, Section 132 allows officials to only seize assets and books during the search operation in case of suspected tax evasion.

Once the Income Tax Bill 2025 is passed, the new Act will expand the powers of th...