The government, on Friday, withdrew the Income-Tax Bill, 2025, that was introduced in Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier this year. The bill was to replace the existing, decades-old Income-Tax Act, 1961.
According to media reports, the government is set to introduce the latest version of the Income Tax Bill, which will have most of the recommendations made by a panel chaired by Baijayant Panda.
The updated version of the bill will be introduced on Monday.
#MonsoonSession2025
— SansadTV (@sansad_tv) August 8, 2025
FM @nsitharaman moves to withdraw the Income-tax Bill, 2025, as reported by the Select Committee, which aimed to consolidate and amend the law relating to income tax.@nsitharamanoffc @LokSabhaSectt @loksabhaspeaker @IncomeTaxIndia @FinMinIndia pic.twitter.com/wdDdtU2SOk
The move to table the latest version of the bill is also aimed at removing any confusion or ambiguity caused by multiple versions of the Income Tax Bill.
“Suggestions have been received which are required to be incorporated to convey the correct legislative meaning. There are corrections in the nature of drafting, alignment of phrases, consequential changes and cross-referencing,” the finance minister said, explaining the reasons to withdraw the bill.
The 31-member Select Committee, chaired by Panda, was appointed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to scrutinise the bill.
The Committee has made as many as 285 suggestions.
The new bill has a word count of 2.6 lakh, lower than 5.12 lakh in the I-T Act. The number of sections is 536, lower than the 819 effective sections in the existing law. The number of chapters has also been halved to 23 from 47, according to the FAQs (frequently asked questions) issued by the I-T department.
Most of the recommendations by the panel were aimed at harmonising the draft law with existing practices and ensuring taxpayer interests are protected.
