Mumbai, February 9 (IANS). The Income Tax Department has issued a new draft of Income Tax Rules, in which it has been proposed to change the numbering of tax related forms, with the aim of simplifying the process of filling tax related information for taxpayers, tax experts and institutions. This change is being made because the new Income Tax Act 2025 is going to come into effect from April 1.
New form templates have also been released with this draft. Experts say that the old form numbers being used till now had become quite complex after changing over the decades. The new numbering will reduce confusion while filing taxes and there will be no need to fill the same information again and again.
With the new system, tax related information can be better linked with the digital system. This will help in real-time data matching and checking. However, due to this change, employers, tax advisors, registrars and companies will have to make quick changes to their systems.
As per the draft rules, several commonly used audit and international tax forms have been combined or renumbered. Now the tax audit report, which was earlier filled in forms 3CA, 3CB and 3CD, will now be given in a single Form 26. Similarly, audit reports related to transfer pricing will now be submitted in Form 48 instead of Form 3CEB. At the same time, the certificate related to Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) will now be submitted in Form 66 instead of Form 29B.
MAT is a tax of 15 percent, which is imposed on companies whose normal tax is less than 15 percent of their book profits.
The form for tax residency certificate has also been changed. Now for this, Form 42 will have to be used instead of Form 10FA. Apart from this, information related to tax agreement i.e. DTAA between two countries will now have to be given in Form 41 instead of Form 10F.
The numbering of many forms related to TDS has also been changed in the draft. Now the application for reduced or zero TDS will be made in Form 128, while the TDS certificate related to salary will now be called Form 130.
Along with this, the old forms of TDS return 24Q, 26Q and 27Q have also been given a new number. Now these will be known as Form 138, Form 140 and Form 144 respectively. At the same time, TCS return will now be filed in Form 143 instead of the old Form 27EQ.
The annual tax statement, commonly known as Form 26AS, will now be known as Form 168. Similarly, Form 61A giving information about financial transactions will now become Form 165.
Along with this, changes have also been made in the forms related to sending money abroad. Now information about foreign remittance will be given in Form 145 instead of Form 15CA, while Chartered Accountant’s certificate will have to be submitted in Form 146 instead of Form 15CB.
Experts believe that with all these changes it will be easier to file income tax returns. With this, income and benefits will be calculated clearly and there will be uniformity in tax rules, which will help people in understanding the tax related procedures.
–IANS
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