Income Tax: Sitharaman said that with the help of digital forensics, benami properties worth crores have been caught so far.
Income Tax: The government is now preparing to keep an eye on your digital activity i.e. WhatsApp messages, Instagram posts, Google Maps history and even crypto transactions. Under the Income Tax Bill 2025, special provisions are being added to crack down on “benami” properties and tax evasion cases in the digital world.
What did the Finance Minister say?
During the discussion on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: – “The old Income Tax Act did not have enough legal support to investigate digital assets, so now it has been added to the new law.” Sitharaman said that with the help of digital forensics, crores of benami properties have been caught so far:
Undeclared assets worth ₹ 250 crore were detected from WhatsApp chats. Tax evasion of ₹ 200 crore was exposed from cryptocurrency related chats. Locations of hiding cash were found from Google Maps history. Benami properties were identified from Instagram posts.
What will be new?
Under the Income Tax Bill 2025, tax officials will now be able to investigate these digital mediums: – Encrypted chats like WhatsApp, Telegram, email and cloud storage, digital asset exchanges and business servers will be monitored.
If tax officials suspect that a person is hiding their income or crypto holdings, they will be able to collect evidence through these means. This evidence will be necessary to present in court and to calculate the tax correctly.
What will change?
The new Income Tax Act will replace the old law of 1961. This law will be simple, technology-oriented and suitable for the digital age. Its aim is to curb tax evasion, monitor digital transactions, and better tax collection.
Sitharaman said that there has been a tremendous increase in personal income tax and the tax collection target set for FY26 is “realistic”.
Overall-now it will not be easy to evade tax in the digital world. From your WhatsApp chat to Instagram photos—everything will be under scrutiny. The tax system is now going to be more transparent, smart and technologically strong.
In the coming times, digital activity = tax traceability!
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