New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday returned the modified Income Tax Bill, along with the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025, to the Lok Sabha as part of the parliamentary procedure.
“The largely dense and complex structure of the Income Tax Act, 1961, resulted in various interpretations, and several avoidable disputes kept mounting, not so much because of the rate, but because of the language. We were subjected to too many litigations. The density and complexity of the Act, along with the verbose way it was written over the decades, with different styles dominating, made the Act very, very tedious for anyone to use,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the upper house during the discussion. With the Rajya Sabha returning the Bill to the Lok Sabha with a voice vote, it has now been approved by Parliament and will be sent to the President for assent to become an Act, which will replace
the over six-decade-old Income Tax Act, 1961. The Income Tax (No 2) Bill, 2025, was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday shortly after Finance Minister Sitharaman tabled the revised bill, incorporating most of
the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Select Committee. The revised Bill will improve fairness and clarity while aligning the law with existing provisions. The new draft aims to provide lawmakers with a single, updated version that reflects all suggested changes, she said. Sitharaman said that suggestions
were received from the select committee, 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 crossreferencing,” she said, adding that the earlier Bill was pulled back to avoid confusion.
The updated Income Tax Bill 2025 incorporates 285 suggestions from the Parliamentary Select Committee. The new legislation aims to simplify tax processes and address previous shortcomings, potentially reshaping the income tax landscape in the country
