The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman, Ravi Agrawal, stated that the income tax department, under the facilitated Income Tax Act 2025, shall notify the new ITR forms and pertinent rules by January. From 1 April 2026, these updated regulations will come into force, marking the transition from the nearly six-decade-old Income Tax Act of 1961.
Agrawal added that the focus of the income tax department is on maintaining new return forms that are simple and easy to adhere to, so that taxpayers can easily adapt to the updated Tax Act.
“We are in the process of designing the new forms and rules, and our aim is to notify them by January so that taxpayers have adequate time to adjust their systems and processes,” Agrawal stated after inaugurating the Taxpayers’ Lounge at the India International Trade Fair (IITF), New Delhi.
For the effective implementation and compliance with due requirements by every taxpayer under the income-tax provisions, the rules, forms, and IT systems form crucial pillars. But the existing framework of the rules is made in traditional legal language, which leads to understanding and interpretation problems.
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With the ease of provisions under the facilitated Income Tax Act 2025, by reduction of the word counts, introduction of Tables, and formulas, it is desirable that the proposed rules furnish appropriate examples in the rules while delivering easier language and eliminating redundant rules. It will be pertinent for the norms of valuation to perfectly apply the valuation procedure under distinct situations, instead of getting into the interpretation of the text.
The TDS provisions have changed under the new Income-tax Act 2025, based on distinct categories, for instance, payments to residents, non-residents, no TDS situations, etc. it shall be anticipated that the new forms shall align with the same framework for streamlining the compliance of TDS provisions.
Ravi Agrawal has inaugurated the taxpayers’ lounge that has been set up to support visitors in comprehending tax-related services.
The lounge proposes a distinct range of assistance and interactive resources, including:
- Support for e-filing, Form 26AS (tax credit), TDS, and other online filing issues
- Assist with applying for PAN/e-PAN, Aadhaar–PAN linking, and resolving PAN-related queries
- Report on various taxpayer service initiatives and the e-Nivaran grievance redressal system
- Guidance on international taxation matters
- Assistance for faceless assessment and appeals
Agrawal stated that the Income Tax Department will release tax refunds by December. “We have analysed and found that some wrong refunds or deductions were being claimed, so there is scrutiny, but we hope to release the remaining refunds by this month or December.”
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
