Income Tax: The Finance Ministry has made it clear that the benefit of zero tax liability is available only in the new tax system, which is applicable as the default system from 2023-24. ITR has to be filed for its benefit.
Income Tax: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has given a lot of relief to the middle class while presenting the budget for 2025-26 on February 1. She has made income up to 12 lakhs tax free. Whereas earlier there was no tax on annual income up to 7 lakhs. The Finance Ministry has made it clear that this zero tax liability applies only to the New Tax Regime, which is applicable as a default system from 2023-24. To take advantage of this change in the tax slab, individuals will only have to file their Income Tax Return (ITR), nothing else needs to be done.
Earlier this much tax had to be paid on 12 lakhs annually
Earlier under the new tax system, a person earning Rs 12 lakh annually generally had to pay a tax of about Rs 80,000. Now after the new announcement in the budget, ITR will have to be filed to claim tax exemption. Speaking to Business Today, CA (Dr) Suresh Surana said, even if the income is less than Rs 12 lakh, it is necessary to file a return.
Taxpayers are exempted from filing returns only if the basic exemption limit has not been breached. This limit is Rs 2.5 lakh for general citizens (below 60 years of age), Rs 3 lakh for senior citizens (60 to 79 years of age), Rs 5 lakh for very senior citizens (80 years or above) under the old tax regime and Rs 4 lakh for all individuals under the new tax regime.
Apart from this, there are certain other criteria too, which if fulfilled make it mandatory to file return even if the total income does not exceed the basic exemption limit, such as-
- Those with current savings account balance of more than Rs 1 crore in a bank
- Those whose electricity bill is more than Rs 1 lakh
- Those whose foreign travel expenditure is more than Rs 2 lakh
The aim of the changes in the new tax system is to make annual income up to Rs 10 lakh tax free and introduce a new tax slab of 25 percent on income of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. The new slab structure is as follows-
0 – up to Rs 4,00,000 – 0%
4,00,001 – up to Rs 8,00,000 – 5%
8,00,001 – up to Rs 12,00,000 – 10%
12,00,001 – up to Rs 16,00,000 – 15%
16,00,001 – up to Rs 20,00,000 – 20%
20,00,001 – up to Rs 24,00,000 – 25%
Rs 24,00,001 and above – 30%
