CBDT Announces Simpler ITR Filing with Advanced Pre-Filled Returns; Effective April 1

On Monday, the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Ravi Agrawal, said that the updated income tax rules scheduled to take effect from April 01 will permit a salaried individual with no additional income to verify data using a pre-filled return and submit it directly to the concerned authorities.

The recent Draft Income Tax Rules and Forms 2026 have been developed using simpler language, making them easier for taxpayers to understand. They have been set to take effect along with the New Income Tax Act 2025, i.e., from April 01, 2026. The government has not finalised them yet; public feedback and comments have been invited up to February 22, 2026. Considering the relevant feedback, necessary changes will be implemented, and thereafter the final version will be notified by the first week of March, as per the sources.

The chairman, explaining the key idea behind these simplified rules and forms, said, “The intent is how to cut down on redundant forms… and essentially, the focus is more on capturing the right information.” These draft rules and forms were released subsequent to assent given by the president to the Income Tax Act 2025, in August 2025.

As per the expert, the earlier version of pre-filling of ITRs was introduced in around 2019-20. In that version, taxpayers were required to visit convoluted ITR forms, making entries one by one manually, cross-verifying each detail several times. The new pre-filled forms have been designed to simplify the complexity using advanced technology.

On the day of the Budget 2026 presentation (February 01, 2026), the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said, “In July 2024, I announced a comprehensive review of the Income Tax Act, 1961. This was completed in a record time, and the Income-Tax Act, 2025, will come into effect from April 1, 2026.” Further said, “The simplified Income Tax Rules and Forms will be notified shortly, giving adequate time to taxpayers to acquaint themselves with its requirements. The forms have been redesigned such that ordinary citizens can comply without difficulty.”