No change in STCG, LTCG in new Income Tax Bill: CNBC-Awaaz

No change in STCG in new Income Tax Bill: CNBC-Awaaz

There will be no changes in short-term capital gains (STCG) and long-term capital gains (LTCG) in the new Income Tax Bill, reported CNBC-Awaaz on February 12 citing sources.

The CBDT had set up an internal committee to oversee the review and make the Act concise, clear, and easy to understand, aiming to reduce disputes and litigations while providing greater tax certainty to taxpayers. Additionally, 22 specialised sub-committees were established to review various aspects of the Income Tax Act.

In the July 2024 budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that STCG from stocks, equity funds and units of business trust (InvIT and REIT) will be taxed at 20% as against 15% earlier.

LTCG will be uniformly taxed at 12.5% for all classes of assets, the Budget had announced.

Public inputs and suggestions were invited in four categories — simplification of language, litigation reduction, compliance reduction, and removal of redundant/obsolete provisions. The income tax department has received 6,500 suggestions from stakeholders regarding the review of the Income Tax Act.

CNBC-TV18 reported on February 12 that the Bill proposes 23 chapters and 16 schedules and simple terms such as "tax year". The term "tax year" is proposed to replace "assessment year" and "financial year" will replace the term "previous year".

Tax Year would mean 12-month period of the financial year commencing on April 1.

Sitharaman had announced in Budget 2025-26 that the new tax bill would be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament. FM Sitharaman had first announced a comprehensive review of the Income-tax Act, 1961, in the July 2024 Budget.

The first leg of the ongoing budget session ends on February 13. The session will reconvene on March 10 and continue through April 4.