ITR forms, rules under new Income Tax Act to be notified by Jan: CBDT chief

The intent of the department is to keep the I-T Return forms simple to ease compliance under the new law, which replaces the six-decade old Income Tax Act, 1961, CBDT chief Ravi Agrawal said

The I-T department will by January notify the ITR forms and rules under the simplified Income Tax Act, 2025, which will come into effect from next fiscal beginning April 1, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chief Ravi Agrawal said on Monday.

The intent of the department is to keep the I-T Return forms simple to ease compliance under the new law, which replaces the six-decade old Income Tax Act, 1961, he said.

"We are in the process of designing forms and rules. We are working towards putting this in place by January so that taxpayers have sufficient time to adapt their processes within their system," Agrawal told reporters after launching the Taxpayers' Lounge at the India International Trade Fair (IITF).

The intent is to keep the income tax return (ITR) forms simple for taxpayers to ease compliance, he added.

The Income Tax Act, 2025 was passed by Parliament on August 12.

All the different forms applicable under the Income Tax Act, like TDS quarterly return form and ITR forms, are being reworked, and the Directorate of Systems is working with the tax policy division to make the forms taxpayer-friendly.

After vetting by the law department, the rules will be notified and laid before Parliament, an official said.

The Income Tax Act, 2025 will come into effect from next financial year, beginning April 1, 2026. The new Act will make tax laws simple and reduce wordage in the legislation making it easy to understand.

The new legislation does not impose any new tax rate and has only simplified the language, which was required for understanding the complex income tax laws.

The new law removes redundant provisions and archaic language and reduces the number of sections from 819 in the Income Tax Act of 1961 to 536 and the number of chapters from 47 to 23.

The number of words has been reduced from 5.12 lakh to 2.6 lakh in the new law, and it has introduced 39 new tables and 40 new formulas, replacing the dense text of the 1961 law, to enhance clarity.