Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Income Tax Bill 2025 in the Lok Sabha today, February 13. The bill aims to consolidate and amend the law relating to income tax.
According to the agenda circulated by the Lok Sabha secretariat, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce the Income Tax Bill 2025.
The new Bill seeks to replace the Income Tax Act of 1961, which has become too voluminous due to the amendments made over the last 60 years. The new law is expected to come into effect on April 1, 2026.
The much-anticipated Bill will replace terminologies like assessment and the previous year with easier-to-understand ‘tax year’ as part of a move to simplify language while removing provisos and explanations.
Complicated bill says, Congress MP
Congress leader Manish Tewari had called the Bill ‘complicated.’ “The Union Finance Minister had said that the new Income Tax Bill will be simpler than the previous bill. But the bill, which should have been more simple than the previous one, is actually more complicated,” Tewari said.
The Bill is being tabled 12 days after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Budget 2025. The Budget session of Parliament began on January 31 and will take place in two legs. The first leg is scheduled to end today. The second part of the session will commence on March 10 and conclude on April 4.
Modi government had listed 16 Bills, besides the financial business, for the Budget session. These include the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, The Railways (Amendment) Bill, The Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, The Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Bill, and The Immigration and Foreigners Bill.
The bill, which should have been more simple than the previous one, is actually more complicated.
The Bills of Lading Bill, 2024, for consideration and passing has also been listed for today. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will move the bill.
In other business listed for the day, a number of private bills might be moved by members in the second half of the last day of this part of the Budget session. This includes the Mental Healthcare (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Amendment of Section 2 etc.) by Rajiv Pratap Rudy and the Modern Slavery (Prevention) Bill, 2024 by K Sudhakaran
