Parliament passed the Income Tax (No. 2) Bill, 2025 to replace the Income Tax Act 1961 after sixty years.
The new law aims to modernise tax administration without changing current tax rates.
It simplifies the terminology by introducing the unified term tax year instead of assessment year and previous year.
The bill has 536 sections and 16 schedules.
The number of chapters has been brought down to 23 from 47 and the number of Sections to 536 from 819.
It allows individuals to claim tax deducted at source (TDS) refunds even if returns are filed late without penalty.
It also broadens the powers of income tax officials, allowing them to forcibly break into personal emails and social media accounts of assesses during search operations.