The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has released a new Income Tax Search and Seizure Manual, 2025 replacing the older version that was issued in 2007. This new manual is ready to give updated guidelines to Income Tax officers for conducting search and seizure operations under the Income-tax Act, 1961.
Key Points of Manual
The manual gives special importance to digital evidence like data from laptops, phones and cloud storage. Officers are guided to handle such data carefully and lawfully.
It takes into account new laws like the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 and the Information Technology Act, 2000.
It explains every stage of a search from planning and conducting to post-search action.
The manual also covers:
- procedure under Section 132A (requisition of books and assets
- handling of penalty and prosecution
- dealing with foreign undisclosed assets under the Black Money Act, 2015
- and data sharing with other agencies like FIU-IND, NATGRID and MCA21.
Why it matters
This is the first major update in 18 years. It shows that the Income Tax Department is now focusing more on technology based investigation.
Taxpayers, consultants and businesses should make sure that their digital records are well maintained and can be easily verified if needed.
What taxpayers and professionals should do
- Keep all digital and physical records in proper organized manner.
- Keep back up important data regularly on secure platforms.
- Follow data privacy and compliance requirements under new laws.
- Follow data privacy and compliance requirements under new laws.
- Stay aware of how digital evidence can be used during tax proceedings.
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