New Tax Bill: Is It a Language Fix With No Real Change?

The Bill is half the current Act due to better formatting, but legal complexity largely remains

- MAYANK MOHANKA

India's Income Tax Act is set for its biggest overhaul in over six decades. A parliamentary committee has unanimously cleared the draft Income Tax Bill, 2025, which proposes 285 changes to the version tabled in the Lok Sabha on 13 February. The government has accepted most of the panel's suggestions, raising the chances of the Bill's passage in the ongoing monsoon session. On the surface, the new Bill seems to simplify India's complex tax code—it's shorter, cleaner and better organized. But it raises a key question: does simpler language necessarily mean a simpler law?

The new Income Tax Bill is nearly half the length of the existing Act, but the brevity comes more from improved formatting than from a real simplification of the law. Dense prose in long sections and sub-sections has been reorganized into clearer tables, schedules and structured sections. For example, the detailed sub-clauses on saving and investment options under section 80C are now part of a separate Schedule XV. This improves readability, but the legal complexity and scope remain largely unchanged.