A parliamentary select committee has completed its review of a...

A parliamentary select committee has completed its review of a new Income Tax Bill, 2025, intended to replace the existing Income Tax Act of 1961. The committee, comprising 31 members, submitted a report with 285 recommendations, which will be tabled in the Lok Sabha for further consideration. The new legislation significantly simplifies the tax code by reducing the number of sections from 819 to 536 and chapters from 47 to 23, while also cutting the word count by nearly half. It introduces clearer provisions, including the removal of the "previous year" and "assessment year" concepts, replacing them with a single "tax year." The Bill aims to minimize litigation and enhance tax certainty through streamlined language and format changes, such as tabular presentations of exemptions and TDS/TCS rules. The parliamentary session to discuss the Bill is scheduled from July 21 to August 21, 2025.

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