Income Tax Act 2025 gets President’s assent; will be effective from 1st April 2026

The Income Tax Act, 2025, has been published in the Official Gazette after it received the President’s assent. According to the Gazette, the Act consolidates and revises the law relating to income tax. The new law will come into force from 1st of April 2026. The Income Tax department in a social media post said that this landmark reform, replacing the Income Tax Act of 1961 ushers in a simpler, transparent and compliance-friendly direct tax regime. The Act includes structural simplifications under which the numbers of sections have been slashed from 819 to 536, and chapters from 47 to 23, paired with the introduction of tables and formulas for clarity. The new Act introduces the concept of a “tax year,” replacing the financial year and assessment year to reduce confusion.