Income-tax Act 2025 vs 1961: what replaced which section

The Income-tax Act, 2025 (No. 30 of 2025) came into force on 1 April 2026 and replaced the Income-tax Act, 1961. It is a consolidation: it renumbered and restructured the law without, for the most part, changing the rates. The section numbers most people know — 194C, 112A, 80C, 44AD, 234B — are no longer the governing provisions for events on or after that date.

This page maps the provisions our calculators apply. Each was read from the enacted text rather than from commentary. Where a figure is set by a Finance Act rather than by the Act itself, that is stated, because the two change on different timetables.

The rule that decides which Act applies

It is the date of the transaction, not the financial year you are filing for. For tax deducted at source the trigger is the earlier of credit and payment, so an amount credited on 31 March 2026 and paid on 15 April 2026 is governed by the 1961 Act.

Tax deducted at source

Sections 192 to 194T collapsed into two provisions: section 392 for salary and section 393 for everything else. Section 393 carries three tables — residents, non-residents, and any person — and a row is cited by its table serial.

1961 Act	Income-tax Act 2025	Rate
192 — salary	392	slab rates
194C — contractors	393(1) Table Sl. 6(i)	1% individual/HUF, 2% other
194H — commission	393(1) Table Sl. 1(ii)	2%
194I — rent	393(1) Table Sl. 2	2% / 10%
194IA — immovable property	393(1) Table Sl. 3(i)	1%
194J — professional and technical fees	393(1) Table Sl. 6(iii)	10%, or 2% for technical services, film royalty and call-centre payees
194K — mutual fund income	393(1) Table Sl. 4(i)	10%
194 — dividend	393(1) Table Sl. 7	10%
194B — lottery and game winnings	393(3) Table Sl. 1	rates in force — 30% under Finance Act 2026
194N — cash withdrawal	393(3) Table Sl. 5	2%
195 — payments to non-residents	393(2)	rates in force, or a treaty rate where the statute allows

Not every rate is in the Act. Section 2(90) lists the rows whose rate comes from the Finance Act instead — interest, insurance commission, winnings, and the non-resident catch-all. For those, the Act tells you a deduction is due and the Finance Act tells you how much.

Capital gains

1961 Act	Income-tax Act 2025	Rate
111A — short-term, listed equity with STT	196	20%
112 — long-term, generally	197	12.5%
112A — long-term, listed equity with STT	198	12.5% above Rs 1,25,000
Second proviso to 112(1)(a)	197(3)	protection on land or building acquired before 23 July 2024

Section 197(3) restates the land-and-building protection in the same terms: for a resident individual or HUF selling land or building acquired before 23 July 2024, tax is capped against the pre-amendment computation at 20% with indexation. That protection survived the new Act unchanged.

Presumptive taxation

Sections 44AD, 44ADA and 44AE became a single provision, section 58, with a three-row table.

1961 Act	Income-tax Act 2025	Limit
44AD — business	58(2) Table Sl. 1	Rs 2 crore, or Rs 3 crore where cash receipts are within 5%
44AE — goods carriage	58(2) Table Sl. 2	up to 10 vehicles; Rs 1,000 per ton per month for a heavy goods vehicle
44ADA — profession	58(2) Table Sl. 3	Rs 50 lakh, or Rs 75 lakh where cash receipts are within 5%

The higher limits are conditional. They apply only where cash receipts stay within 5% of turnover or gross receipts, and section 58(9) treats a cheque that is not account payee as cash. Section 58(11) confines the scheme to a resident individual, HUF or firm, and expressly excludes a limited liability partnership.

Advance tax and interest

1961 Act	Income-tax Act 2025	What it does
208 — liability	404	advance tax where the amount is Rs 10,000 or more
207(2) — senior exclusion	403(3)	resident individual aged 60+ with no business income is outside advance tax
211 — instalments	408	15%, 45%, 75%, 100% by 15 June, September, December and March
234B — default	424	1% per month or part from 1 April following the tax year
234C — deferment	425	3% on each of the first three instalments, 1% on the fourth
234A — late return	423	1% per month from the due date to the date of filing

A presumptive taxpayer pays the whole advance tax by 15 March in one instalment, under section 408(2). Section 425(2) also forgives a first instalment paid to 12% or a second paid to 36%, which is a tolerance many calculators miss.

Regimes and other provisions

1961 Act	Income-tax Act 2025
115BAC — the new regime	202
Previous year / assessment year	a single “tax year”
2(37A) — rates in force	2(90)

What this means when you file

• Quoting a 194-series section for a payment on or after 1 April 2026 can trigger a validation error. Quote the section 393 table serial instead.
• The rate you owe usually did not change. Rate changes in this period came from the Finance Acts, not from the new Act.
• For anything straddling 1 April 2026, work from the transaction date, and for TDS from the earlier of credit and payment.

Our TDS calculator, capital gains calculator, presumptive tax calculator and advance tax calculator resolve the governing provision from the date you enter and cite it in the result, rather than assuming a single year.