Taxes

India's budget offers a five-year tax exemption on foreign income for non-resident professionals in approved schemes, aiming to attract global talent in electronics and semiconductors.

Budget 2026 brought a significant change for the Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) but maintained most of the existing taxation rules for gold and silver investments.

If a taxpayer fails to get accounts audited or furnish the report, a fee of Rs 75,000 applies for delay of even a day. This doubles to Rs 1,50,000 if the failure continues beyond 30 days.

Income Tax Slab News Live: Last year, FM Sitharaman announced major changes in the new income tax regime. Tax experts believe that there is little fiscal room this year for any big tax income tweaks, however, some changes may be brought to boost consumption.

In the new tax regime, which is also the default regime currently, several changes were announced in 2024 and 2025 to make it more lucrative.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the annual budget on Feb. 1, 2026.

STT is a tax levied by the government on the purchase or sale of securities traded on recognised stock exchanges in India.

The new Income Tax Act was introduced to modernise, simplify and streamline India's direct tax framework.

Budget 2026: Capital gains on SGBs were tax-free for individual investors only if held until the eight-year maturity, regardless of whether they were purchased in the primary or secondary market.

Sitharaman noted that tax forms have been redesigned to ensure "ordinary citizens can comply without difficulty," marking a major shift toward user-friendly processes.

According to Chadha, applying the same LTCG rate to such transactions and to equity investments ignores this embedded cash component.

Income Tax Budget 2026 Expectations Highlights: Taxpayers will look for updates for any new impact on their wallets as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents her record ninth budget on Feb. 1, 2026.

As long as the yearly contribution level is not surpassed, active EPF accounts continue to collect interest in a tax-efficient manner. For this reason, it is preferable to consolidate older EPF balances into one active account.

Mutual funds industry body AMFI has proposed to increase the exemption limit for LTCG tax on equity and equity-oriented schemes to at least Rs 2 lakh from the current Rs 1.25 lakh.

Helios Capital’s Samir Arora says that taxing interest income and taxing long-term equity gains are different.

To make tax-saving investments, ELSS or tax-saver mutual funds are a potent avenue for long-term wealth creation if you select the schemes thoughtfully instead of making an ad hoc choice.

With effect from September 22, 2025, the entire man-made textile chain from fibre to yarn to fabric, will operate under a uniform 5% tax structure.

'We are telling taxpayers, you calculate and pay tax on whichever is lower,' Sitharaman said.

Here is all you need to know about the e-verification process, before the July 31 deadline.

Investors in the 15% tax bracket or lower will lose the tax advantage.