FM Nirmala Sitharaman chairs meeting to review Income Tax Act

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the meeting to review the Income Tax Act 1961 (Image: Finance Ministry's X handle)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting on November 4 to conduct a comprehensive review of the Income Tax Act 1961, in line with the announcement made during the last Union Budget.

The meeting was also attended by other finance ministry officials including Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, Ravi Agarwal, Chairman of Income Tax department, the ministry posted on X.

During the meeting, Revenue Secretary Malhotra said 22 specialised sub-committees have been established to review the various aspects of the Income Tax Act. “These committees have actively engaged in numerous meetings — with domain experts to collaboratively explore and recommend improvements to the Act,” the post added.

The ministry has also received 6,500 suggestions on the Act through the ministry portal since it was opened on 6 October 2024, “reflecting active public participation towards further simplification of the IT Act”, it added.

During the Union Budget 2024-25 that was presented on July 23, Sitharaman announced the review of the decades-old law and simplify it.

The review committee, led by Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, VK Gupta, was expected to submit its report by October, sources had told Moneycontrol in September.

The review is being conducted through 15 specialised sub-committees that address various chapters and issues under the Income Tax Act. There are committees on compliance, non-profit organisations and income derived from trusts under section 11,12,13, penalty provisions, exemptions under Section 10 such as HRA, LTA, dividends, etc., income tax on businesses, redundancies, income tax searches and TDS/TCS.