New Income Tax bill halves word count, eases compliance: Chairman of the Finance Select Committee, Baijayant Jay Panda

Time of India

4 days ago

BJP
Member of Parliament and Chairman of the
Finance Select Committee
,
Baijayant Jay Panda
on Tuesday reflected upon the ongoing simplification of India's tax laws, stated that the newly proposed Income Tax Bill aims to make compliance easier for taxpayers without altering tax policies or rates.
Speaking about the legislative overhaul, Panda said the new draft bill reduces the word count of the
Income Tax Act
by nearly 50 per cent, from around 5 lakh words to 2.5 lakh. "Under PM Modi, a lot of the very obsolete laws have been overhauled over the last 11 years. In line with this, Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman
had said last year that the Income Tax is also going to be overhauled for simplification," he said.
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"The Ministry had worked on it and presented to Parliament few months ago - a simple version of New Income Tax Bill where the word count has been reduced by 50 per cent, from 5 lakh-odd words to about 2.5 lakh words...Very simple formulae and tables have been given so that it becomes simpler," he further added.
Panda also highlighted the motive behind this move. "Our mandate was not to change the tax policy or to change the tax rates, it was to make sure that the Act becomes simple," Panda clarified.
Panda presented the report of the Select Committee on the new Income-Tax Bill in Lok Sabha on Monday with its recommendations.
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Recently, the report of the parliamentary panel on the new Income-Tax Bill was presented in Lok Sabha. In its report, the panel has suggested important changes to tighten definitions, remove ambiguities, and align the new law with existing frameworks.
The panel examined the Income-Tax Bill 2025, which seeks to simplify the language and structure of the Income Tax Act 1961 and submitted its report.
The Income-Tax Bill, 2025, was tabled in Parliament in February and was referred to the Select Committee for a detailed examination.
The Committee, in its 4,584-page report, identified several drafting corrections based on stakeholder suggestions, which they believe are essential for clarity and unambiguous interpretation of the new bill. The parliamentary panel has made a total of 566 suggestions/recommendations in its report.