Income Tax Officers To Access Your Bank, Social Media Accounts? A Fact Check

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has released a detailed fact-check report after a social media post claimed that the Income Tax department would be able to access social media accounts, emails and other digital platform details of users from April 1, 2026. PIB flagged the post as misleading, adding that under the provisions of the Income Tax Act 2025, such measures will be limited to 'Search and Survey' operations, meaning the honest taxpayers will remain unaffected.

"Unless a taxpayer is undergoing a formal search operation due to evidence of significant tax evasion, the department has no power to access their private digital spaces," PIB stated, highlighting that an X handle @IndianTechGuide shared the misleading post, claiming mass digital surveillance by tax authorities.

According to PIB, the Income Tax Department cannot access private digital platforms for routine assessments, data processing, or scrutiny cases. Law-abiding taxpayers are not affected by these provisions.

"These measures are specifically designed to target black money and large-scale evasion during search and survey, not the everyday law-abiding citizen."

The fact-checking unit added that the power to seize documents and evidence during search and survey operations has always existed since the 1961 Act.

A post by @IndianTechGuide claims that from April 1, 2026, the Income Tax Department will have the 'authority' to access your social media, emails, and other digital platforms to curb tax evasion.#PIBFactCheck

❌The claim being made in this post is #misleading! Here's the real… pic.twitter.com/hIyPPcvALF

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) December 22, 2025

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Income Tax Act 2025

From April 1, 2026, the outdated Income Tax Act of 1961 will be replaced by the simpler, modern Income Tax Act, 2025. The new tax law simplifies compliance by reducing the 819 complex sections of the 1961 Act to fewer, clearer provisions.

Section 132 of the previous law allowed authorities to enter property, seize documents or equipment, and access digital data. The new Section 247 prescribes that an authorised officer can gain access by "over-riding" the access code of computer system or 'virtual digital space'.

With most malicious actors saving their data in servers and storage facilities, gathering evidence from digital accounts is not only "essential" to prove tax evasion before a court of law, but also for computing the exact amount of tax evaded.