How has Income-Tax Bill 2025 simplified income from salary and house property rules? CBDT explains

The new Income-Tax Bill 2025 has simplified provisions related to income from salary and house property. However, only minimal changes have been proposed to ensure the continuity of earlier rules.

“The chapter on salary and house property has been specifically crafted for this purpose so that the taxpayer can on his own read those chapters and file his return of income.”

How has the new chapter been simplified?

The new bill has restructured various provisions around salary and house property, significantly reducing the length of the chapter. Redundant provisions have been eliminated while all essential clauses have been retained.

All existing provisos and explanations across various sections have been integrated into the main provisions in the new bill.

The key changes are summarized in the table below:

• Number of words: Reduced from 4401 to 3420 for the Part ‘Salaries’ and from 1658 to 1177 for the Part ‘Income from House Property’
• Single chapter: All provisions related to salary are brought under the part ‘Salaries’. This has been done so that the taxpayer does not have to refer to separate chapters for filing ITR.
• Language: Simple and easy to read, clarifying all crucial terminology like perquisite, profit in lieu of salary, standard deduction etc. All of these terminologies have been placed in separate sections.
• Less jargon: The legal and technical jargon has been minimised, and provisions like perquisites have been rewritten. Redundant and repetitive provisions have been removed for better readability.

Why are there only minimal changes in the chapters on salary and house property?

The ITD says that the objective of drafting the new bill was “to simplify the existing framework rather than completely overhaul it.”

The proposed Income-Tax Bill 2025, therefore, maintains continuity while ensuring improved clarity and efficiency.

“Especially for the part on ‘Income from House Property’, it was noted that the provisions are already fairly simple and have been well received by the general public,” the CBDT said.

“The concepts like the annual value of house property, self-occupied property, etc. have been accepted well and there is a minimal dispute in interpreting the provisions and computation of this head of income. Hence, minimal changes have been proposed in this part to ensure a smooth transition and minimal confusion,” it added.