Income Tax department to have your bank account and email access from April 1? Modi government issues clarification, says…

Unless a taxpayer is subjected to a formal search operation due to evidence of large-scale tax evasion, the department has no right to access their private digital space.

New Delhi: A post is going viral on social media that claims that the Income Tax Department will have access to your bank account, email, and even social media accounts from April 1, 2023. It is important to note that this claim is being linked to the new Income Tax Act, 2025. Amid the online claims about increased surveillance under the new Income Tax Act, 2025, questions are being raised about whether tax authorities will be allowed to monitor taxpayers’ social media accounts, emails, and other digital platforms.

The Modi government has now responded to the rumours and also issued a clarification where they have clarified that such claims are misleading and incorrect. In a fact-check post on social media platform X, PIB Fact Check called the claims ‘misleading’. It stated, “A post by @IndianTechGuide claims that from April 1, 2026, the Income Tax Department will have the ‘right’ to access your social media, email, and other digital platforms to curb tax evasion. The claim made in this post is misleading.”

The government has further explained that the provisions of Section 247 of the Income Tax Act, 2025 are strictly limited only to search and survey operations. Unless a taxpayer is subjected to a formal search operation due to evidence of large-scale tax evasion, the department has no right to access their private digital space.

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

The post further added that these extra powers cannot be used for regular information collection or processing, nor even for cases under investigation. These measures have been specifically designed to target black money and large-scale tax evasion during search and survey operations, and not for ordinary, law-abiding citizens.