“Income tax- rebate extended on income up to Rs 7 lakhs in new tax regime”, said FM Sitharaman “Average processing time for income tax returns reduced from 93 days to 16 days. The government intends to roll out next-gen common IT Return forms and strengthen grievance redressal mechanism”, added FM Sitharaman. “For Personal Income Tax, the new tax rates are 0 to Rs 3 lakhs – nil, Rs 3 to 6 lakhs – 5 per cent, Rs 6 to 9 Lakhs – 10 per cent, Rs 9 to 12 Lakhs – 15 per cent, Rs 12 to 15 Lakhs – 20 per cent and above 15 Lakhs – 30 per cent,” said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “I introduced in 2020, the new personal income tax regime with 6 income slabs, starting from Rs 2.5 Lakhs. I propose to change the tax structure in this regime by reducing the number of slabs to 5 and increasing the tax exemption limit to Rs 3 Lakhs,” added Sitharaman. Resident individual with total income upto Rs 7 lakh will not have to pay any Income Tax under new tax regime. Standard deduction of Rs 50,000 will also be available to salaried individuals under the new tax regime. Limit for tax exemption on leave encashment on retirement of non-government salaried employees increased to Rs 25 lakh.
