Tax Officials Can Search More Devices

Net tax mop-up slips 4% due to rise in refunds

- Pushpita Dey @ New Delhi

WITH digital data being stored in varieties of devices, the Finance Ministry will be widening the definition of the 'computer system' under the new Income Tax Bill 2025 and the Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) will be soon coming up with a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for handling digital data, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

"The definition of a computer system has to be wide enough. Today, the computer systems are of so many different varieties," added the Finance Minister. She highlighted that the provisions will be made to deal with those tax evaders who don't let the officials from the Income Tax department access their devices, claiming that the respective device doesn't come under the definition of 'computer system' as stated in the Income Tax Bill 1961.