Section 132 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 allows an Income Tax Officer to search and seize any suspect property.

Income Tax Department now keeps an eye on social media accounts, these big changes are going to happen from next month

It will not be easy for anyone to evade tax now. In case of tax evasion, the Income Tax Department will now keep an eye on your social media accounts as well. The Income Tax Department is going to get a new weapon in the form of law to crack down on such people, after which they will have more power to take action than before. 

The Income Tax Department will get new legal power from 1 April 2026 i.e. the new financial year. There is a provision in this law that Income Tax Officers will be able to have direct access to any suspicious person's email, bank account, social media accounts, trading platforms and online investments. 

Section 132 of the Income Tax Act 1961 allows the Income Tax Officer to search and seize any suspect. That is, the government has decided to crack down on theft through digital means through this. In such a situation, undeclared income, gold-silver, precious digital items and secret assets can be tracked.

There is a provision in this that if the person does not cooperate during the investigation, the officers will be able to unlock the files and data, bypass passwords and override security settings. As per the rules till now, income tax officers can seize laptops or hard drives during raids, but there are legal hurdles in their direct access to digital data.

Section 247 of the new Income Tax Bill states that the authorities will be able to examine digital data only in cases of tax evasion, but this will apply only in those cases where there is no accurate information about undeclared assets or income.