New Income Tax Bill 2025 shaped by 60,000 citizen inputs: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said the government has received more than 60,000 inputs from the citizens towards the making of the Income Tax Bill, 2025. "We have completely shaken up the IT Income Tax Act and the 1961-62 Income Tax Act shall now be replaced by a new act which is in the form of a bill introduced in the parliament. There is a select committee which is appointed, 31 members of Lok Sabha will be sitting and looking at it in all details," the FM said during post-Budget interaction with stakeholders in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

The Income Tax Act review has had a very big component of Jan Bagidari, says the FM. "The IT Act essentially is looking at simplification. When it was born in 61-62, it had only about 200 odd sections. As time went by, it touched over 800 sections and it is that over 800 that we are bringing it down now to slightly over 500 I think very meaningful user-friendly ways of regrouping sections and clauses, which affect a particular section will all be found in one particular place rather than be spread around that."

Sitharaman last week tabled the much-anticipated Income Tax Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha, marking a decisive break from the Income Tax Act of 1961. Slated to take effect from April 1, 2026, the draft bill has been hailed by tax experts and industry leaders as a landmark reform, which will modernise India’s tax framework, eliminate ambiguity, and enhance clarity.