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Privacy concerns have emerged from the proposed Income Tax Bill of 2025. The upcoming 2025 Income Tax Bill grants tax authorities authority to bypass digital access codes such as passwords for mobile devices, including laptops and smartphones.
Under this provision, tax authorities would gain access to social media accounts, email servers, and encrypted messaging services, including WhatsApp. Privacy advocates initiate debates because of the proposed regulations that allow the government to bypass digital locks.
The introduced Income Tax Bill includes reforms to search and seizure requirements. The law now gives tax officials in the Income Tax Act more power to perform their duties. Under the previous legislation, authorities were restricted from performing physical record inspections of premises. According to the bill's current version, tax officials now can check virtual digital areas, including encrypted messages and online profiles, through their investigative processes. Under this new legislation, authorities can circumvent electronic device security during procedures concerning tax evasion.
The bill establishes virtual digital space as a comprehensive term extending to various virtual domains. The list of virtual digital spaces covered by this bill includes email servers and social media platforms, bank accounts, financial trading platforms, and cloud storage platforms.
Through digital space provisions, the government would gain increased capacity to collect evidence to investigate tax fraud and income underreporting cases against targeted individuals. The change introduced powerful concerns regarding authorities' access limits to personal data.
The government states that the bill keeps existing provisions the same, but privacy advocates express concern about unrestricted surveillance. The new legislation would extend power to investigators who could override electronic security systems to reset passwords. The new law will probably create unnecessary oversight of personal data, which experts believe threatens virtual personal privacy. Protective safeguards within the bill are insufficient to ensure institutional authorities will use their powers in proportion to specific circumstances.
Internet Freedom Foundation and additional digital rights organizations have presented various objections. The experts are pushing for detailed regulatory limits that narrow government authority to monitor technology, specifically in personal digital domains. Privacy advocates argue that a proper set of regulations needs to be developed because they believe these measures violate constitutional rights and enable tax investigators to carry out unwanted harassment.
The proposed bill encounters problems relating to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act because this legislation remains in draft status. Activist groups push for clear guidelines that balance state authority against personal privacy protection.
