Five Important Credit Card Rules You Must Know Under Draft Income-tax Rules 2026

The Income Tax Department has released the draft Income-tax Rules 2026. If these rules are approved, they will replace the old 1962 rules from April 1, 2026.

There are 5 important points about credit cards that everyone should know:

1) High-value credit card bill payments to be reported

According to the draft rules:

• If you pay Rs. 10 lakh or more towards your credit card bill in a year using any method other than cash, the bank or credit card company will report it to the Income-tax Department.
• If you pay Rs. 1 lakh or more in cash towards your credit card bill, that will also be reported.

2) Permanent Account Number (PAN) is required.

Having a PAN card is necessary if you want to apply for a credit card from a bank or any other card provider, because it helps verify your identity and financial details.

3) Credit cards are allowed for paying taxes online.

You can pay your taxes using a credit card, just like you can use a debit card or net banking.

4) In the case of credit cards provided to the employee by the employer as a perquisite, the draft rules have proposed the following:

As per the draft rules, “The value of this perquisite shall be the amount taken to be the value of the perquisite chargeable to tax as reduced by the amount, if any, paid or recovered from the employee for such benefit or amenity.”

If the money or benefit was spent only for official work, not for personal use, then it will not be counted as a benefit only if the following conditions are met:

a. The employer keeps proper and complete records of the expenses made. These records include details such as the date on which the money was spent and the purpose or type of expense for which it was used.

b. The employer provides a certificate confirming that the money was spent only for work purposes and not for personal use.

5) You can use your credit card statement as proof of address.

If your credit card statement is not older than 3 months, you can submit it as address proof while applying for a PAN card.