What are the concerns with the Income Tax Bill, 2025?

The Income Tax Bill, 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha recently. It seeks to modernise and simplify the Income Tax Act, 1961. 

While the Bill is indeed shorter in length than the original Act it seeks to replace, there is one major concern: privacy experts believe it institutes a regime of tax surveillance, in complete violation of the Supreme Court judgement in the landmark Justice Puttasamy case where it ruled that privacy is a fundamental right. 

Tax experts hold that under the provisions of this Bill, the state can claim complete access to the entirety of a person’s “virtual digital space” merely on suspicion that she may be hiding income and evading tax. 

Critics have also said that the Bill does not rationalise monetary thresholds for various compliances and deductions, nor does it provide meaningful revisions in the penalty and prosecution changes. 

Guest: Deepak Joshi, Advocate-on-Record in the Supreme Court and a qualified Chartered Accountant. 

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.