New Income Tax Act – Artifex.News

I-T dept releases draft rules, forms for new Income Tax Act; seeks public inputs

admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 16:08:00 +0000

With regard to the new income tax forms, it said that they have been simplified to a large extent for the ease of the taxpayers. Representative Image
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

The tax department on Saturday (February 7, 2026) released draft rules and forms under the new Income Tax Act, 2025, which proposes to simplify the provisions and reduce compliance burden for ease of understanding and make it taxpayer-friendly.

A new and simplified Income Tax Act, 2025, which will replace the over six-decade-old Income Tax Act of 1961, will come into effect from April 1.

Is the new Income Tax law more accessible? | Explained

The Income Tax department has sought comments from stakeholders on the draft Income-tax Rules, 2026, and forms by February 22. Thereafter, the rules and forms under the new Act will be notified.

The Income-tax Rules, 1962 contains 511 rules and 399 forms. As a result of the changes proposed in the new rules and forms, including the removal of redundancy and consolidation of rules wherever possible, the draft Income-tax Rules, 2026 contains 333 rules and 190 forms, the I-T department said while inviting stakeholder comments.

With regard to the new income tax forms, it said that they have been simplified to a large extent for the ease of the taxpayers. Standardisation of common information has been done across the forms with a view to reducing the compliance burden of the taxpayers.

“Forms have been designed in a smart way so as to provide for automated reconciliation and also prefill capabilities so as to make filing more intuitive and less error-prone. These smart forms would considerably ease the filing and enhance the user experience,” it said.

The language of the forms has also been simplified so as to avoid any operational, administrative or legal ambiguity, it added.

Rationalisations carried out in the Rules are expected to simplify the provisions, which will help in the ease of understanding and comprehension. The process simplifications proposed will help in ease of living and general ease of business across all sections of taxpayers, the tax department said.

Along with the new draft rules and forms, two navigators – one providing the mapping of the old rules and the new draft rules and the second providing the mapping of the old forms and the new draft forms is also provided for the guidance of stakeholders and the public.

Nangia Global Partner Sandeepp Jhunjhunwala said what is noteworthy is the long-overdue rationalisation of archaic perquisite thresholds, such as tax-free at-work meal value, gift received from employer, etc. – a reform that has been widely sought and brings the income tax framework closer in line with contemporary economic realities.

“Together, these measures signal a thoughtful and forward-looking approach to legislative implementation,” he said.

Mr. Jhunjhunwala further said that a marked difference also appears to have been made in the definition of Accountant for the purpose of various certifications under the new Income Tax Act, which now stands revised to individual professionals with not less than 10 years of experience and annual receipts in the year preceding certification to be more than ₹50 lakhs.

For partners, if any entity engaged in rendering accountancy or valuation services has annual receipts in the year preceding certification that exceed ₹3 crore.

Grant Thornton Bharat LLP Partner Tax Richa Sawhney said the focus on technology in ensuring the forms are pre -filled and reconciled will reduce the time spent in compliance and reduce inadvertent errors.

Published – February 07, 2026 09:26 pm IST

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New Income Tax Act will come into effect on April 1, 2026: FM Sitharaman

admin — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 20:05:00 +0000

Image used for representation purpose only.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

During her Union Budget presentation on Sunday (February 1, 2026), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed that the new Income Tax, 2025, would come into effect in April this year, with the forms and rules to be notified “shortly” provisioning “adequate time” for taxpayers to acquaint themselves with the requirements.

Ms. Sitharaman also told the House that the forms have been redesigned such that ordinary citizens would be able to comply without any difficulty.

Published – February 01, 2026 12:33 pm IST

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Amid Chaos, New Income Tax Bill Tabled In Parliament, Sent To Committee

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:23:39 +0000

New Delhi:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the new income tax bill – which she had mentioned in her Budget speech on February 1, and which is expected to reduce the jargon in the Income-Tax Act of 1961, making it easier to understand and implement – in Parliament on Thursday.

However, as she rose to present the bill, some members of the opposition staged a walk-out and others lobbed fierce questions at her. The Congress’ Manish Tewari and the RSP’s NK Premchandran suggested the new tax bill is, in fact, more complicated than the old. Ms Sitharaman said the MPs were incorrect; she said the present law had over 800 sections whereas the proposed law had only 536.

Trinamool MP Saugata Roy then criticised the new bill as being “mechanical”, to which Ms Sitharaman shot back, “… substantial changes are being made. The number of words have come down by half… sections and chapters have been cut. It is in simple English…”

Those opposition members who remained then opposed the Bill – even at this stage – but the House passed the motion, via a voice vote, to table the proposed new law.

Ms Sitharaman then referred the bill to a joint parliamentary committee – which will examine the new tax proposals and make changes, if needed – before it is re-tabled in the House for passing.

The JPC is expected to submit its report on March 10, the first day of the second half of the Budget Session. This committee will be set up by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Shortly after tabling the bill, Ms Sitharaman’s office tweeted, ” The new Income Tax Bill (2025) has been tabled in Parliament. The bill aims to simplify the language of the existing law as amended to date. (A copy of) the bill is available at our website… Our FAQs address common queries regarding objectives and the outcome of the simplification exercise…”

What Is New Income Tax Bill?

The new law will take effect from April 1, 2026. It will not, however, change existing tax slabs.

Among the proposed changes and amendments is the concept of a ‘tax year’, which will replace the simultaneous use of ‘financial year’, or FY, and ‘accounting year’, or AY. In other words, under current income tax laws, tax for income earned in 2023/24, for example, is paid in 2024/25.

The proposed change will see the introduction of a ‘tax year’, so tax on income earned in a year will be paid that year. It has also omitted redundant sections, like those about ‘fringe benefit tax’.

READ | Reader Friendly, Handy Tables For Calculation In New Income Tax Bill

Tables have been included for provisions relating to TDS, or tax deducted at source, ‘presumptive taxation’, salaries, and deductions for bad debt.

Overall, it tries to replace the 1961 Act, which critics had become voluminous due to amendments made over the past 60 years. Speaking this afternoon, Ms Sitharaman said, “The Income Tax Act was originally enacted in 1961 and came into effect in 1962.”

“At that time they had 298 sections. But, as time went by, more sections were added. And, as it stands today, there are 819… from that, we’re bringing it down to five,” she explained.\

Tax Proposals In Union Budget 2025

There were three major announcements linked to personal income tax in Ms Sitharaman’s February 1 budget. The first, and possibly the biggest, was increasing the tax rebate limit.

Starting from FY2025/26, individuals whose salary is up to Rs 12 lakh (Rs 12.75 lakh including standard deduction) will not pay tax. Ms Sitharaman also tweaked the tax slabs for the new regime, adding a 25 per cent bracket for salary within the Rs 20 lakh – to Rs 24 lakh category.

READ | Big Budget Boost For Middle Class: No Income Tax Up To Rs 12 Lakh

The tax proposals were cheered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of the ruling BJP, and many political analysts believe, helped the saffron party script a big win in last week’s Delhi Assembly election; the BJP swept 48 of Delhi’s 70 seats to stop the AAP from winning a third successive term. The BJP, in two earlier elections combined, had won just 11 seats.

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