A CRISPIER and simplified Income Tax Bill 2025, having 536 sections, and 23 chapters running into 622 pages, is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The Bill once enacted will replace six-decade old Income Tax Act 1961, which over the years became bulkier and complex with amendments. The proposed law replaces the term ‘previous year’ as mentioned in the Income Tax Act, 1961 with ‘tax year’.

 

Also, the concept of assessment year has been done away with. Currently, for income earned in the previous year (say 2023-24), tax is paid in assessment year (say 2024-25). This previous year and assessment year concept has been removed and only tax year under the simplified bill has been brought in. The Income Tax Bill, 2025 comprises 536 sections, higher than 298 sections of the current Income-Tax Act, 1961. The existing law has 14 schedules which will increase to 16 in the new legislation. However, the number of chapters have been retained at 23. The number of pages has been reduced substantially to 622, almost half of the current voluminous Act which includes amendments made over the last six decades.