Income-tax Act 2025 Old vs New Section Mapping: The Full 1961 Cross-Reference

Every section number you have used for thirty years changed on 1 April 2026. This page maps the 1961 numbers you still think in to the 2025 numbers you now have to cite.

Last verified: 5 September 2026 · Applies to: both (FY 2025-26 under the 1961 Act, Tax Year 2026-27 onward under the 2025 Act)

Contents

• The one mapping that will cost someone money
• What actually happened on 1 April 2026
• Which Act governs which year
• Filing, returns and audit
• TDS and TCS
• Capital gains and the reinvestment exemptions
• Business income, regimes and companies
• Assessment, unexplained income and valuation-linked charges
• Residence and non-residents
• The Rules also renumbered
• Numbers that mean two different things
• "Tax year" replaced "previous year" and "assessment year"
• How to work through your own documents
• Frequently asked questions
• How BVACA can help

The one mapping that will cost someone money

Start here, because it is the mapping most likely to appear in a live transaction this quarter.

Under the Income-tax Act, 1961, section 197 was the lower or nil TDS certificate. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, section 197 is the charging provision for tax on long-term capital gains (the old section 112). The lower or nil deduction certificate is now section 395(1), and the application form is Form 128 (the old Form 13).

So an application drafted today that says "application under section 197 for a certificate for lower deduction of tax" is citing a section about long-term capital gains. This matters most on NRI property sales, where TDS is deducted on the full sale consideration rather than on the gain unless a certificate is obtained. That workflow is written up in full here: the lower TDS certificate is now section 395 and Form 128.

The same discipline applies across the board. Cite the new number, and put the old one in brackets so the other side knows what you mean.

What actually happened on 1 April 2026

The Income-tax Act, 2025 (Act 30 of 2025) came into force on 1 April 2026 and repealed the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Income-tax Rules, 2026 (Notification 22/2026, G.S.R. 198(E), dated 20 March 2026) replaced the 1962 Rules on the same footing.

CBDT's stated position is that the rewrite was carried out "without altering the underlying tax policy". In most cases the substance of a provision carries over; the number does not. The deduction you were claiming still exists, the tax audit still exists, capital gains are still taxed the same way. What broke is every cross-reference in every engagement letter, checklist, template, board note, loan document and software field in the country.

That is a mechanical problem, and mechanical problems are solved with a table.

Which Act governs which year

This is where most of the confusion sits in September 2026, because two Acts are live at the same time.

So the return season open right now, for FY 2025-26, is a 1961 Act season. If you are filing a tax audit report this month or an audit-case return in October, you are working under the old Act and the old form numbers for that year. The 2025 Act numbering bites for the year that began on 1 April 2026.

The savings provisions preserve pending assessments, appeals, penalty proceedings and rectifications under the repealed Act, so an appeal filed in 2024 does not have to be re-pleaded under new section numbers.

The repeal-and-savings clause sits at section 632 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 — worth citing on any brief that turns on whether the 1961 Act or the 2025 Act governs a particular proceeding.

Practical consequence: for the next two years you will routinely draft documents that have to cite both Acts. A notice of appeal against an order for AY 2023-24 cites 1961 sections. A TDS certificate for a payment made in July 2026 cites 2025 sections. Both are correct at the same time.

Filing, returns and audit

Section 139 is the most-cited number in Indian tax practice, and it is now section 263. "Filed under section 139(1)" becomes "filed under section 263(1)". The updated return, which practices have only just got comfortable with as 139(8A), is section 267.

Tax audit moves from 44AB to section 63, and the "specified date" for furnishing the report is one month before the return due date under section 63(5)(a). We cover the mechanics of the new audit deadline separately under tax audit under section 63.

TDS and TCS

This is the chapter that changed shape, not just numbering. The 2025 Act consolidates the individual TDS sections into tables inside sections 392 to 397, so the correct citation is often a table item, not a standalone section.

Read that table twice if you run a payroll or an accounts payable function. "Deducted under section 194-IA" is now "deducted under section 393(1), Table Sl. No. 3(i)"; "deducted under section 195" is now "deducted under section 393(2), Table Sl. No. 17". Your vendor master, your challan narration and your TDS working papers all carry the old codes.

Section 397(3)(d) is the statutory basis for the foreign remittance certification workflow that used to run on Forms 15CA and 15CB. Those forms are now Form 145 and Form 146 under Rule 220, set out end to end in Form 145 and Form 146 for foreign remittances.

Capital gains and the reinvestment exemptions

The reinvestment exemptions moved from the 54-series into the 82 to 88 block, in the same order, so if you remember the old sequence the new one tracks it.

Two substantive points worth carrying with the numbers. LTCG on immovable property is taxed at 12.5% plus surcharge plus 4% cess under section 197(1)(b), for residents and NRIs alike, where the holding period exceeds 24 months (section 2(101)). Indexation survives only in a narrow slot: section 197(3) gives the lower of 12.5% without indexation or 20% with indexation, but it is expressly limited to "an individual or a Hindu undivided family, being a resident", and only for land or building acquired before 23 July 2024. An NRI gets no indexation at all.

Illustrative example. A flat in Panchkula bought in 2015 for ₹60 lakh (₹60,00,000) is sold in August 2026 for ₹2 crore (₹2,00,00,000). If the seller is a resident individual, section 197(3) allows the better of 12.5% without indexation on the ₹1.4 crore gain, or 20% with indexation on the indexed gain. If the seller is an NRI, only the 12.5% limb is available, and the buyer must deduct under section 393(2), Table Sl. No. 17 on the whole ₹2 crore unless the seller first obtains a section 395 certificate.

Business income, regimes and companies

The new regime slab structure sits at section 202(1) and was left unchanged by the Finance Act, 2026. The rebate is at section 156(2): up to ₹60,000 where total income does not exceed ₹12 lakh, with marginal relief.

MAT at section 206 is where the Finance Act, 2026 moved the substance rather than the number. The rate came down from 15% to 14% and MAT became a final tax, with no further credit accruing from 1 April 2026. That is a balance sheet issue, dealt with in the Finance Act 2026 changes for companies.

Assessment, unexplained income and valuation-linked charges

Section 68 becoming section 102 matters for anyone raising capital, because section 102 expressly reaches "share application money, share capital, share premium". Angel tax itself is gone: section 56(2)(viib) was omitted by the Finance (No.2) Act, 2024 with effect from AY 2025-26, and the 2025 Act contains no equivalent provision. But section 102 and section 92(2)(m) are both live, and both can reach a share issue or transfer priced below fair market value.

Residence and non-residents

Section 6 kept its number, but every sub-section inside it moved. Deemed residency for an Indian citizen with more than ₹15 lakh of non-foreign-source income and no tax liability elsewhere is now section 6(7); the RNOR definition is section 6(13).

Treaty relief moved from sections 90 and 90A into a single section 159, with the Tax Residency Certificate requirement at section 159(8). Form 10F is now Form 41 under Rule 75.

The Rules also renumbered

The Income-tax Rules, 2026 replaced the 1962 Rules. These five will come up most often.

Rule 11UA is heavily cited in valuation and share-transfer work, and it no longer exists. It is Rule 57. Any engagement letter, valuation report or share transfer checklist citing "Rule 11UA" for a post-1-April-2026 transaction is citing a repealed rule. Note too that six old rules on lower deduction certificates collapsed into a single Rule 213, so a template quoting "Rule 28AA" has no one-to-one counterpart; it is simply Rule 213 now.

Numbers that mean two different things

These are the traps. In each case the number survives into the 2025 Act carrying a completely different subject.

A drafting rule that removes the risk entirely: never cite a bare number without the Act. Write "section 395 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (formerly section 197 of the 1961 Act)". It is four extra words and it makes the document unambiguous to a bank, a registrar, a buyer's counsel and an assessing officer.

"Tax year" replaced "previous year" and "assessment year"

The 2025 Act abolishes both "previous year" and "assessment year" and replaces them with a single concept, the tax year, which is the financial year. As at September 2026 the current tax year is TY 2026-27, and "AY 2027-28" is no longer a statutory concept. It will keep appearing in software dropdowns and internal templates for years without matching anything in the Act. The consequences for due dates, engagement letters and accounting systems are set out in why assessment year no longer exists.

How to work through your own documents

The transition is a search-and-replace exercise with judgement attached. The sequence that works:

1. Engagement letters and scopes of work first. Anything that says "under section 44AB" or "certificate under section 197" needs the new citation, because these are the documents a client and a regulator actually read.
2. Application and certificate templates second. Form 13 is now Form 128, Form 15CB is now Form 146, Form 10F is now Form 41. Wrong form numbers get rejected at upload, which is at least a visible failure.
3. TDS masters third. Section codes in payroll and accounts payable are the highest-volume, lowest-visibility risk: a wrong code produces a filed return with a wrong classification that surfaces months later as a mismatch notice.
4. Legacy matters left alone. Do not renumber a pending appeal or an assessment for a pre-April-2026 year.
5. Both numbers in client communication, for at least this year. Clients are searching the old numbers, and so is everyone else in the chain.

If you want that done systematically rather than as it comes up, our direct tax advisory and return filing team runs it as a fixed-scope review across templates, masters and standing certificates.

Frequently asked questions

What is the new section number for section 139 of the Income-tax Act?

Section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (return of income) is section 263 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, in force from 1 April 2026. The updated return, previously section 139(8A), is now section 267, and self-assessment tax, previously section 140A, is section 266. For FY 2025-26 returns filed in the current season, the 1961 numbering still applies.

Is section 197 still the lower TDS certificate?

No. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, the lower or nil deduction certificate is section 395(1), applied for on Form 128 under Rule 213. Section 197 of the 2025 Act is the charge on long-term capital gains, replacing the old section 112. Citing "section 197 certificate" for a transaction on or after 1 April 2026 is a wrong citation.

Did the Income-tax Act 2025 change the tax rates?

CBDT's position is that the 2025 Act rewrote the law "without altering the underlying tax policy", so the rewrite itself was largely numbering rather than rates. Rate changes for Tax Year 2026-27 came separately through the Finance Act, 2026. Examples: MAT falling from 15% to 14% and becoming a final tax, and unexplained income under section 195 falling from 60% to 30% but now attracting penalty.

Which Act applies to my FY 2025-26 return?

The Income-tax Act, 1961. FY 2025-26 corresponds to AY 2026-27 and is governed by the old Act, including its section and form numbers. The 2025 Act applies from FY 2026-27, which it calls Tax Year 2026-27. Proceedings pending on 1 April 2026, and proceedings for earlier periods, also continue under the 1961 Act.

What replaced Rule 11UA for share valuation?

Rule 57 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026. Rule 11UA of the 1962 Rules ceased to exist when the 1962 Rules were replaced by Notification 22/2026 dated 20 March 2026. Rule 57 prescribes a single formula for unquoted equity shares: FMV = (A + B + C + D − L) × PV ÷ PE.

How BVACA can help

Bachhal Vijender & Associates has been applying the 1961-to-2025 mapping across live client files since the Act came into force. We do three things on this specifically: a template and masters review, so engagement letters, certificates and TDS section codes carry the correct 2025 Act citations; transaction-level support where a wrong citation has real consequences, such as a lower deduction certificate on an NRI property sale; and a parallel-year discipline for businesses filing FY 2025-26 returns under the old Act while operating TY 2026-27 under the new one. If you have a document in circulation citing a repealed section, it is worth fixing before it reaches a counterparty.

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Author box: CA Vijender Singh Bachhal, Managing Partner, Bachhal Vijender & Associates (FRN 028355N), Panchkula. About the firm

Disclaimer: This article is general information current as at 5 September 2026, not advice for a specific situation. Tax and corporate law in India changed materially on 1 April 2026; verify the position before acting. Illustrative examples are not client matters.