Income Tax Rule: From April 1, 2026, the Income Tax Department will have the legal right to hack and access your social media accounts, email, bank accounts, online investment accounts, trading accounts etc.
Income Tax New Rule: Income Tax Department can now check everything from your social media accounts to personal email, bank account and trading account. In fact, from April 1, 2026, the Income Tax Department will have the legal right to break in and access your social media accounts, email, bank account, online investment account, trading account etc. However, this rule is not for everyone. This is only for those taxpayers on whom the Income Tax Department has suspicion and solid reason for tax evasion. That is, when the Income Tax Department comes to know that a taxpayer has undeclared income, property or documents, which he is deliberately hiding to avoid income tax. To take strict action against such people, the officers will have the right to check all their accounts in the new law.
What is the detail
Let us tell you that currently Section 132 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 allows officers to search and seize property and account books. Under the new Income Tax Bill, this power to break in has also been extended to your computer system or virtual digital space. According to Clause 247 of the Income Tax Bill, if an authorized officer has reason to believe that a person has undeclared income or property that falls within the scope of the IT Act, then they can break the lock of any door, box, locker, safe, cupboard or other receptacle, enter any house and search it using the power by clause (i).
The definition of virtual digital space (as explained in the Income Tax Bill) is quite broad and it clearly mentions that a person’s social media accounts, bank accounts, trading, investment accounts and emails directly fall under the definition of virtual digital space.
