This paper critically examines India’s recent decision to abolish the Equalisation Levy (EL), a unilateral tax on digital services, and situates it within the evolving global discourse on cross-border digital taxation. Initially introduced in 2016 and later expanded in 2020 to cover e-commerce supplies, the very objective of the EL was to address the challenge of value creation without physical presence. Its recent abolition raises questions on the efficacy of the decision, c

The robust growth of India’s online gaming industry has triggered a wave of legal uncertainties and skepticism in recent times, especially in the realm of taxing statutes. The online gaming sector has seen unprecedented rise and attracted substantial domestic and international capital investments, driving tax Revenue Department, employment and expansion of ancillary industries. However, the sector remains to be ensnared in complex web of regulatory regimes in India, despite g

Imagine a situation where a tax authority accesses your social media account, cloud server, email ID, online investment portfolio, etc., on the mere suspicion that you are concealing income or evading taxes without your explicit consent. This isn’t a dystopian novel. This is going to be a real possibility from 1st April 2026, with the introduction of “Virtual digital space” in Clause 261(i) (“the Clause”) of the Income Tax Bill, 2025(“the Bill”), in the Lok Sabha in February