The Central Board of Direct Taxes entered into 174 advance pricing agreements with Indian taxpayers in FY25. The number sets a new record for the agency and includes unilateral APAs, bilateral APAs and multilateral APAs. This also takes the total number of APAs signed since the inception of the program to 815.

According to details shared by the CBDT spokesperson, this year also marks the highest number of APAs signed in a single financial year since the launch of the programme. 65 of the agreements signed in FY25 were BAPAs — the highest number of BAPAs finalized in any year so far. The BAPAs were signed as a consequence of entering into Mutual Agreements with India’s treaty partners namely Australia, Canada, Denmark, Japan, Singapore, the UK and the US.

The CBDT had also set a record in FY24 as it recorded 125 APAs with Indian taxpayers.

The Income Tax Return (ITR) filing season is here! From April 1, 2025, tax returns can be filed for the assessment year 2025-26 (financial year 2024-25). Like previous years, taxpayers will have both options – online and offline – to file their income tax returns.

New Excel-based utility for ITR-2 – What is special?
The Income Tax Department has recently released an upgraded version of the Excel-based utility for filing ITR-2. It is specially designed for individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) who do not earn income from business or profession.

This new utility (version 1.11) was launched on 25 March 2025. It provides the facility to file revised returns under Section 139(8A), allowing taxpayers to rectify their returns if required.

April 1, 2025, marks the beginning of the new fiscal year. With the start of the new financial year, many new income tax laws come into effect. It is important to keep a note of these new income tax laws. This is because the new income tax laws impact how tax is deducted from various sources of income, such as salary, interest income, etc. Further, how much tax you will pay for incomes earned during FY 2025-26.
Here are the eleven income tax laws that become effective today.
1. New income tax slabs under new tax regime
The new tax regime will have new income tax slabs. The highest tax rate of 30% will apply to income above Rs 24 lakh.

Indian investors are diversifying globally at an unprecedented pace. Recent data reveals a staggering 108% year-on-year increase in equity investments through the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), with total remittances reaching $8.37 billion in 2024. This isn’t merely a passing trend but a fundamental shift in investment strategy among Indian investors who are increasingly recognising the importance of geographical diversification.

The drivers behind this transformation are multi-factorial. The steady depreciation of the Indian rupee—from Rs 74.5 in January 2022 to Rs 87.4 in March 2025—provides a structural tailwind, effectively offering an additional 3-4% annual return on US investments.

Meanwhile, direct overseas investment via LRS has emerged as a more cost-effective approach to accessing global markets than domestic mutual funds that invest internationally.

Many Indians trading on the world's largest crypto exchange Binance have come under the glare of the tax authorities.

Over the past few weeks, the Income Tax (I-T) department has inquired whether the 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) levied on such deals have been collected. Local investors must either provide proof of TDS deduction or submit documentary evidence on why TDS is not applicable to them, according to notices served by the tax office.

Probing into the traders' source of money, the department has sought their I-T returns for the years when the funds used to purchase cryptos were earned. A few scrutiny notices, questioning the transaction data downloaded from the website of the offshore exchange, have imposed 30% tax on the entire turnover instead of claiming tax on the gains.

Individuals who have claimed House Rent Allowance (HRA) exemptions in their tax returns over the past few years but failed to deposit the applicable Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on the rent paid are now being served notices by the Income Tax Department.

The taxmen are seeking verification of the previous-year claims filed in the Income Tax Returns (ITR). If, however, the taxpayer has made a mistake and wants to rectify the tax returns for earlier years, they have until March 31 to submit an updated-and rectified-ITR to account for the gap.

ET explains below what the relevant TDS provisions entail, and what a taxpayer should do when served a notice.

You must have read articles floating on the internet encouraging you to book a loss in your equity and other investments to set off against capital gains made in the past and, thereby, reducing the tax liability. This strategy is popularly known as "tax-loss harvesting."

While one can defer the tax liability with this strategy, it is important to know that it comes with inherent risks. If adequate precautions are not taken while using this strategy, you may end up paying more income tax than before. For example, you may end up paying more taxes if your long-term capital gains are less than Rs. 1,25,000.

Many salaried employees live in societies where they pay maintenance charges in addition to the rent to their landlord. However, maintenance is a fixed amount paid to society and is part of the rent agreement. If a salaried employee opts for the old tax regime and claims a house rent allowance (HRA) exemption on the rent paid, can he/she also claim a tax exemption on the maintenance fees?

ET Wealth spoke to tax experts to understand if the HRA tax exemption can also be claimed on the maintenance dues.

Abhishek Soni, CEO of ITR filing website Tax2Win.in, says, "In the Income Tax Act, there is no specific mention regarding HRA exemption on maintenance charges.

The Income Tax Department is now reportedly sending notices to salaried taxpayers who have claimed House Rent Allowance (HRA), but did not deduct tax at source (TDS) on rent payments in the past financial years.

These notices are to ask the taxpayers to verify their claims and if they are incorrect, to amend their tax returns before the March 31 deadline, according to a Mint report.

The law states that tenants must deduct 2 per cent TDS (which was reduced from 5 per cent in October 2024) if their monthly rent exceeds Rs 50,000, as long as the landlord is a resident Indian.

In cases where the landlord is a non-resident Indian (NRI), the TDS rate is 31.2 per cent, regardless of the rent amount.

Income tax department offices across the country will remain open on March 29 to March 31 to facilitate taxpayers in completing pending tax-related business for the fiscal year.

The ongoing financial year 2024-25 ends on March 31.

The Income tax department offices across the country will remain open despite the weekend and Eid-al-Fitr which may fall on Monday.

In an order, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said "to facilitate completion of pending departmental work, all the Income Tax Offices throughout India shall remain open on 29th, 30th and 31st March, 2025."

March 31, 2025, being the last day of the current financial year, all government payments and settlements pertaining to the fiscal have to be completed by that day.

The Centre has announced many changes in the income tax rules, to be effective from April 1, 2025. Among these changes, many were announced in the Union Budget presented in February this year. If you are a taxpayer, then the changes in the income tax rules will matter to you.

In Budget 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several important changes to make the existing tax system simple and effective. These new tax rules will come into effect from April 1, impacting your investment and tax planning.

Tax rule changes: 10 major changes to be effective from April 1, 2025
New Income Tax Slabs and Rates for FY 2025-26 (New Tax Regime)
0 to Rs 4 lakh – NIL

At the time of the passing of Finance Bill 2025 in Lok Sabha, the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to amend Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The Income Tax Department has also released the FAQs on the same.

As per the FAQs issued, “Section 143(1) has been amended to provide for checking any inconsistency in the return with respect to the information in the return of any preceding previous year, as may be prescribed.” The FAQ further added that these inconsistencies are yet to be prescribed. However, an example could be where a taxpayer has made a claim of any credit in a previous return, but the corresponding figures are not the same in the current return.

Citing WhatsApp messages that helped unearth Rs 200 crore in unaccounted money linked to crypto assets, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday defended the provisions of the new Income Tax Bill, 2025.

Addressing the Lok Sabha, Nirmala Sitharaman said granting tax authorities access to digital records is crucial for addressing tax evasion and financial fraud.

“Encrypted messages on mobile phones led to unearthing Rs 250 crore unaccounted money. Evidence from WhatsApp messages of crypto assets has been detected. WhatsApp communication helped unearth Rs 200 crore unaccounted money,” MoneyControl quoted the finance minister as saying.

The new Income Tax Bill which seeks to simplify the over-six-decades-old principal legislation on direct laws, will be taken up for discussion in the monsoon session of Parliament, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

This indicates that the Bill may be pushed for consideration and passing in the next session, which typically commences in July. Introduced in the House on February 13, the Bill is currently being vetted by the select committee.

Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday approved the Finance Bill 2025 along with amendments, including one that abolishes a 6% equalisation levy on online advertisements.

The government has proposed an amendment to the Finance Act 2025 to clearly state that target of search and seizure operations by the tax department will be “total undisclosed income,” instead of “total income.”

In the Finance Act 2024, when the block assessment regime for search and seizure cases was introduced, the term ‘total income’ was used. This has caused concerns among the stakeholders that in case of taxpayers face search and seizure proceedings, even the disclosed income will be subject to harsh penalties.

“Now, the government has added the new term ‘total undisclosed income’ to clarify that the target of search and seizure proceedings is to unearth and penalize the undisclosed income only.

Over 9 million updated Income Tax Returns have been filed over the last four years which fetched Rs 9,118 crore to the exchequer, Parliament was informed on Monday.

To encourage voluntary compliance, the government in 2022 had introduced the option for taxpayers to file updated I-T returns (ITR-U) up to 2 years from the relevant assessment year by paying additional income-tax.

Through Finance Bill, 2025, the government has proposed to extend the time limit for filing updated returns to up to 4 years from the relevant assessment year.

The government on Monday proposed scrapping the 6 per cent equalisation levy on online advertising services provided by non-resident entities, a move that would benefit companies like Google, Meta, and X.

The proposal is part of 59 amendments to the Finance Bill, 2025, introduced by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the Lok Sabha. It comes ahead of talks on a bilateral trade deal between New Delhi and Washington and the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by American President Donald Trump on April 2.

However, the proposed amendments also seek to remove the corresponding income-tax exemption under Section 10(50), bringing such revenue under regular taxation.

Many non-resident Indians (NRIs) those who claimed benefit of lower or nil rate of taxation under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) are receiving income tax notice(s) for failing to file Form 10F. The Income Tax Act, 1961, allows NRI taxpayers to declare their income and file ITR by applying for lower or nil rate of income tax (in some cases) under DTAA.

For availing the benefit of lower or nil taxes under DTAA, NRIs must submit a Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) and Form 10F. This form could be filled any time before filing Income Tax Return (ITR). As per the existing Indian tax law, there is no deadline to file Form 10F and it can be filed electronically by all NRIs who may or may not have a PAN card.

Two-third of Rs 43 lakh crore outstanding direct tax demand is "difficult to collect", Income Tax Department has informed a Parliamentary panel. When the Standing Committee on Finance expressed concern over the huge arrears of demand and desired to know the possible steps, including a moratorium, that can be taken to address this, the Chairman of CBDT told the panel that arrears are a cause for concern.

"We have around Rs 43,00,000 crore of arrear demand which is a cause of concern for us. Partly, this is a legacy issue. This arrear pertains to mid-90s also because earlier what used to happen was there was essentially a manual registers that we were keeping," the CBDT Chairman told the panel.

A parliamentary panel has asked the department of revenue to constitute an expert panel to meticulously examine the issue of pending litigation and propose remedial measures at the earliest with 621,000 tax appeals involving Rs 29.79 lakh crore pending at various courts.

The parliamentary standing committee on finance, in its report tabled Wednesday in Lok Sabha, flagged shortage of manpower at the first appellate level. It noted that the cost of litigation to the government was about Rs 108 crore in 2023-24. "The committee also desires that this matter should be addressed with utmost sincerity and urgency," the committee said.