Budget 2026: The New Income Tax Act Overhaul and Slab Stagnation
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered her ninth consecutive Budget on a Sunday. The Finance Ministry chose stability over slab revisions.
Add rightsofemployees.com as a Preferred Source
Salaried taxpayers watched in disappointment. No fresh tax cuts appeared. A massive legal transformation took center stage instead. The wait for higher exemption limits continues for millions.
At a Glance
-
Tax Slabs: Rates remain frozen for FY 2026-27 across all regimes.
-
TCS Reduction: Overseas tour packages now carry a flat 2% tax.
-
ITR Revision: Taxpayers can fix errors until March 31 with a fee.
The Death of the 1961 Income Tax Act
The Finance Ministry officially announced the repeal of the six-decade-old tax code. The New Income Tax Act 2025 takes effect on April 1, 2026. This legislation aims to simplify 60 years of confusing legal layers into a modern, concise document.
Ordinary citizens often struggle with complex tax terminology that the new law promises to eliminate through redesigned forms and automated rule-based processing. Redundancy is the target.
The ITR Amnesty: A New March Deadline
Taxpayers gained a significant compliance window during the Budget speech. The revised ITR filing deadline moved from December 31 to March 31.
This extension provides a crucial safety net for individuals who discover omissions in their financial disclosures after the primary tax season ends.
A nominal fee of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 applies to these late corrections. Error correction is easier now.
Foreign Travel Relief: The 2% TCS Shift
The 64mm cigarette segment wasn’t the only one hit by tax shifts, but international travelers finally received good news.
Tax Collected at Source (TCS) on overseas tour packages dropped to a flat 2%. Previously, families faced a steep 20% upfront tax for luxury holidays exceeding ₹10 lakh.
This change drastically improves immediate cash flow for middle-class households planning foreign education or medical treatments. Holiday costs just dipped.
Entity Check: Share Buybacks and SGBs
Investors in the secondary market face a new reality. Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) redemptions are now taxable if the bonds were purchased from exchange platforms rather than the primary government issue. The Finance Ministry also shifted the tax burden of share buybacks directly onto the shareholders as capital gains. Promoters now face an effective tax rate of 22% to 30% depending on their corporate status. Market dynamics are shifting.
Tax Slab Comparison: Old vs. New Regime
| Income Level | Old Regime Rate | New Regime Rate (Default) |
| Up to ₹2.5 Lakh | Nil | Nil |
| ₹2.5L to ₹4 Lakh | 5% | Nil |
| ₹4L to ₹8 Lakh | 5% (up to 5L) | 5% |
| ₹8L to ₹12 Lakh | 20% (up to 10L) | 10% |
| Above ₹24 Lakh | 30% | 30% |
Human Insight: The Reality Check
Don’t bank on this money yet—I’ve seen these promises of “simplification” turn into more digital paperwork before. The government’s claim that the 2025 Act will end litigation is likely overly optimistic given the decades of case laws that may now become irrelevant or confusing.
Reality Check: Expect a surge in “hidden” compliance costs as CAs charge more to navigate the transition to the new law. People will likely try to bypass the higher STT on F&O by shifting to unlisted offshore platforms, which the government hasn’t fully addressed. Compliance is the new tax.
Related News:
- UP Property Alert: Mandatory Aadhaar Verification Starts February 1
- No 8th Pay Commission Hike in Budget 2026: The Hard Truth
- Sunetra Pawar Makes History: Maharashtra’s First Woman Deputy CM
Add rightsofemployees.com as a Preferred Source
