Income Tax Act 2025: Comprehensive Section Mapping and Transition Guide for Assessees
The fiscal landscape of India is poised for a monumental shift with the introduction of the Income Tax Act, 2025. Scheduled to govern income earned starting from April 1, 2026, this new legislation aims to simplify the complexities that have accumulated within the Income Tax Act, 1961 over the last six decades. While the foundational concepts of the five heads of income remain largely preserved, the statutory architecture has undergone significant renovation.
For Chartered Accountants, legal professionals, and the diligent assessee, the immediate challenge lies in unlearning the familiar section numbers of the 1961 Act and mastering the restructured numbering of the 2025 Act. The new framework consolidates scattered provisions, reorders sections for logical flow, and renumbers the entire code to enhance readability.
This guide provides a detailed comparative analysis of the statutory shifts, mapping the old sections to their new counterparts to facilitate a smooth transition for the Financial Year 2026-27.
Structural Overhaul: An Overview
The Income Tax Act, 2025 retains the core classification of income but alters the specific coordinates within the statute. The reorganization is primarily focused on:
- Salaries: Expanded from Sections 15–17 to Sections 15–19.
- House Property: Shifted from Sections 22–27 to Sections 20–25.
- Profits and Gains of Business or Profession (PGBP): A massive consolidation moving from the complex 28–44 series to a streamlined Sections 26–66.
- Capital Gains: Renumbered from 45–55A to Sections 67–91.
- Income from Other Sources: Relocated from 56–59 to Sections 92–95.
I. Income from Salary
The provisions governing salaried employees have been expanded slightly in terms of section count to provide distinct space for deductions and definitions.
Key Changes
Under the Income Tax Act, 1961, deductions such as Standard Deduction or Professional Tax were housed within Section 16. In the Income Tax Act, 2025, deductions have been moved to Section 19. Furthermore, the definitions previously clustered in Section 17 are now spread across Section 16, Section 17, and Section 18 for better granularity.