This sparked an outcry from privacy advocates, who warned it would hand sweeping, poorly regulated powers to officials, enabling state intrusion into private correspondence, financial platforms, and personal data under the thinnest veneer of suspicion.

In the revised Bill passed on Monday, the explicit phrase “digital space” has been removed from the clause — but not from the definitions section, where it remains included under “computer systems”. In other words, the capacity for digital surveillance remains embedded, only more quietly.

From 1 April 2026, when the law comes into effect, tax officials will still be empowered to override passwords and access an individual’s online accounts — from banking apps to trading platforms — if they claim to suspect tax evasion.

Context the government glossed over

The 1961 Income Tax Act already grants broad physical search-and-seizure powers, often criticised for being open to abuse and intimidation. The inclusion of unfettered access to citizens’ digital lives — especially in an era where personal, financial, and professional identities are all intertwined online — represents an escalation that civil rights lawyers say is not being sufficiently debated in Parliament or the public domain.

That such sweeping changes to the state’s power to probe, monitor, and access personal data could be passed in three minutes without any floor debate should alarm every taxpayer.

The government calls it simplification. Critics call it a Trojan horse. Either way, starting 2026, your inbox, your bank accounts, and your private messages may be just a password override away from government inspection.

With agency inputs