Income Tax Department to Notify New Rules, ITR Forms Under Income Tax Act, 2025 in March

The Income Tax Department plans to announce the new rules and updated income tax return forms under the Income Tax Act, 2025, at the beginning of March.

The new Income Tax Act, 2025, will come into force from April 1, 2026. This means the new law will apply to income earned from that date onward.

These changes will explain how the new law will operate and what changes taxpayers can expect. However, not all changes will start immediately. Some major updates, such as data sharing and reporting by banks, companies, and other third parties, will be implemented gradually over the coming years, not right away.

Despite this, taxpayers filing returns for the assessment year 2026-27 will continue using the existing income tax return forms that are currently prescribed under the Income Tax Act, 1961. The fully revised return forms under the new law will be used in later years.

An official said, “By February 22, we will receive the responses. In parallel, we will work on them for about a week and then take another week to incorporate the required changes. By the first week of March, we expect to notify the rules.”

Officials said that for a while, both the 1961 law and the new rules will be used together and will affect how things work. The official further added, “The forms will continue to be editable and largely pre-filled. At present, around 12 crore individuals pay taxes, but only 9 crore file returns.”

Once notified, these rules will replace the Income-tax Rules, 1962. However, the department has released the draft rules and forms and has invited public feedback on them. Comments and suggestions will be accepted until February 22.