Is the Income-tax Act 2025 actually in force?
Yes. It received the President's assent on 21 August 2025 (Act 30 of 2025) and came into force on 1 April 2026, replacing the Income-tax Act, 1961. The forms you actually file are set by the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which CBDT notified on 20 March 2026 (Notification 22/2026). So the new form and section numbers are live law, not a proposal.
The catch most NRIs miss: the new Act applies to income earned from 1 April 2026 onward. The new "Tax Year 2026-27". Your income for FY 2025-26 is still taxed under the old 1961 Act, on the old forms, even though you file that return after April 2026. The return you file in July 2026 is an old-Act return. A savings clause (Section 536) keeps old circulars, certificates and Tax Residency Certificates valid through the changeover.
In one line: old forms for old years, new forms from Tax Year 2026-27.
The forms NRIs use: old to new
Most NRI paperwork was renumbered when the Income-tax Rules, 2026 took over. The form does the same job; only the number changed. These are the ones worth knowing:
| Old form (until FY 2025-26) | New form (from 1 Apr 2026) | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Form 10F | Form 41 | Self-declaration a non-resident files (with the TRC) to claim a DTAA rate, Rule 75 / Section 159(8) |
| Form 10FA | Form 42 | Application by a person resident in India for a tax residency certificate to use abroad, Rule 75(3) (formerly Rule 21AB) / Section 159 |
| Form 10FB | Form 43 | The tax residency certificate the Assessing Officer issues on that application, Rule 75(4); no statutory time limit to issue |
| Form 15CA | Form 145 | Remitter's declaration for a foreign remittance out of India |
| Form 15CB | Form 146 | Chartered Accountant's certificate for a taxable foreign remittance (over ₹5 lakh) |
| Form 13 | Form 128 | Application for a certificate for lower or nil TDS, now under Section 395 (was Section 197) |
| Form 49A | Form 93 | PAN application, individuals who are citizens of India (incl. NRIs on an Indian passport) |
| Form 49AA | Form 95 | PAN application, individuals who are NOT citizens of India (OCI / foreign passport); Form 96 is for a foreign entity |
| Form 26QB | Form 141 | Challan-cum-statement a buyer files for TDS on property bought from a RESIDENT seller (Section 393(1), was 194-IA). From 1 October 2026 its new Schedule E also covers a resident individual or HUF buying from a NON-RESIDENT under Section 393(2), without a TAN (Income-tax (Fifth Amendment) Rules 2026, Notification 121/2026) |
| Form 27Q | Form 144 | TDS return the buyer files on a payment to a non-resident (e.g. buying property from an NRI) |
| Form 16A | Form 131 | TDS certificate (non-salary), what the buyer/payer issues to the NRI for tax withheld |
| Form 26AS | Form 168 | Your annual tax statement (TDS credited against your PAN), renumbered, not abolished |
| Form 67 | Form 44 | Foreign Tax Credit statement, now needs a CA certificate where foreign tax is ₹1 lakh or more (Rule 76, Income-tax Rules 2026) |
| Form 10EE | Form 40 | Election for Section 158 (was Section 89A) relief on a foreign retirement account |
| Form 3CEB | Form 48 | Accountant's report on international / specified domestic transactions, filed under Section 172 (was Section 92E) |
| Form 26A | Form 149 | Accountant's certificate that the payee reported the income and paid the tax, so the payer is not in default (Section 398(2), was the first proviso to Section 201(1)) |
| Form 26B | Form 139 | Deductor's refund claim for TDS paid in excess or by mistake, filed on TRACES; not maintainable once the deductee has been allowed the credit |
Two things to flag, because the popular blogs get them wrong. First, the PAN forms split: the old Form 49A (Indian citizens) is now Form 93, and the old Form 49AA (foreign citizens) became Form 95 for an individual and Form 96 for an entity: so an OCI applying for a PAN uses Form 95, not 96. Second, several online mapping tables list 15CA as "131" and 27Q as "140"; both are wrong. The correct successors are Form 145 and Form 144, confirmed on the income-tax department's own form pages.
The sections NRIs run into: old to new
The Act renumbered most sections, but not all. Residence (Section 6) and the "income deemed to arise in India" rule (Section 9) kept their numbers, which is why you will still see them quoted the same way.
| Old section (1961 Act) | New section (2025 Act) | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Section 6 | Section 6 | Residential status (the day-count test), number unchanged |
| Section 9 | Section 9 | Income deemed to accrue or arise in India, number unchanged |
| Section 90 / 90A | Section 159 | DTAA / treaty relief, now expressly needs a TRC + Form 41 to claim (Section 159(8)) |
| Section 195 | Section 393(2) | TDS on payments to a non-resident, substance and rates unchanged |
| Section 206AA / 206CC | Section 397(2) | Higher-rate TDS/TCS where PAN is not furnished or is inoperative. The two old sections merge into Section 397(2) ('Compliance and reporting'). NOT a flat 20%: for deduction it is the higher of the specified rate, the rate in force, 5% for the section 393(1) cases listed there, or 20% in any other case; for collection it is twice the specified rate or 5%, capped at 20%. This is the rule that bites an NRI whose PAN went inoperative, and new Rule 162(3)(iii) cross-refers to it by name |
| Section 139A / 139AA | Section 262 | PAN: allotment, quoting, and the Aadhaar link. Section 262 consolidates both old sections. The Aadhaar-intimation duty whose breach makes a PAN inoperative is Section 262(6), the old Section 139AA(2). Non-residents remain outside the mandatory-linking class |
| Rule 114AAA (Income-tax Rules, 1962) | Rule 162 (Income-tax Rules, 2026) | Consequences of an inoperative PAN. Same substance: no refund and no interest on refund while it is inoperative, and TDS/TCS at the higher rate, but Rule 162 now cross-refers to Section 397(2) and Section 262(6), and reactivation stays at 30 days from intimating Aadhaar after the Rule 158 fee (old Rule 114) |
| Section 197 | Section 395 | Certificate for lower / nil TDS (Form 128). ⚠ The NEW Section 197 is now long-term capital gains |
| Section 54 / 54EC / 54F | Section 82 / 85 / 86 | Capital-gains exemptions on a property sale (reinvest in a house / 54EC bonds) |
| Section 111A / 112 / 112A | Section 196 / 197 / 198 | Capital-gains tax rates (STCG, LTCG non-equity, LTCG equity) |
| Section 89A | Section 158 | Relief on a foreign retirement account (Form 10EE to Form 40) |
| Section 2(22)(c) | Section 2(40)(c) | Deemed dividend on a distribution to shareholders in a liquidation, to the extent of accumulated profits |
| Section 46 | Section 68 | Capital gains on assets distributed by a company in liquidation. ⚠ The NEW Section 68 is NOT the old Section 68 (unexplained cash credits), so check which Act a cited 'section 68' belongs to |
| Section 92E | Section 172 | Duty to obtain and furnish a transfer-pricing accountant's report (Form 3CEB to Form 48) |
| Section 271AA | Section 442 | Penalty (2% of transaction value) for failing to maintain/furnish transfer-pricing documentation |
| Section 50C | Section 78 | Stamp-duty value deemed the full value of consideration on a sale of land or building, with the same 110% tolerance and agreement-date option |
| Section 201 / 201(1A) | Section 398 | Deductor who fails to deduct or pay TDS is an assessee in default; interest 1% a month for not deducting, 1.5% a month for deducting and not paying (Section 398(3)) |
| Section 234E | Section 427 | Late fee for a TDS statement: Rs 200 a day, capped at the tax deductible, paid before the statement is filed |
| Rule 37BC (Income-tax Rules, 1962) | Rule 217 (Income-tax Rules, 2026) | No higher Section 397(2) rate for a non-resident without a PAN (interest, royalty, technical fees, dividend, payment on transfer of a capital asset) who gives the payer name, email, phone, foreign address, TRC and foreign tax number |
| Section 195A | Section 393(10) | Grossing up where, under an agreement or arrangement, the payer bears the payee's tax |
| Rule 31 (Income-tax Rules, 1962) | Rule 215 (Income-tax Rules, 2026) | TDS certificate to the deductee (Form 16A, now Form 131), issued within 15 days of the quarterly statement's due date |
| Section 199 | Section 390 | Credit for tax deducted at source, given to the person whose income it is, per the deductor's statement (Section 390(5) and (6)) |
| Section 203 | Section 395(4) | Deductor's duty to issue the TDS certificate (Form 16A, now Form 131) |
| Section 269SS | Section 185 | No loan, deposit or specified sum (including money for a property transfer) of Rs 20,000 or more except by account-payee cheque, draft or electronic transfer |
| Section 271D | Section 450 | Penalty on the person who accepts cash in breach of Section 185 (formerly 269SS), equal to the amount accepted |
| Section 271C | Section 448 | Penalty equal to the tax not deducted or not paid |
| Section 271H | Section 461 | Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh for a late or incorrect TDS statement; no penalty for delay if filed within one month of the due date with tax, fee and interest paid |
| Section 272A(2)(g) | Section 465(2) | Rs 500 a day for failing to issue a TDS certificate, capped at the tax deductible |
| Section 273B | Section 470 | No penalty where the person proves reasonable cause for the failure |
| Section 276B | Section 476 | Prosecution for failure to pay tax deducted; not where paid by the due date of the TDS statement |
| Section 49(1) | Section 73(1) | Cost of an inherited or gifted asset is the previous owner's cost |
| Section 2(42A) | Section 2(101) | Short-term capital asset; holding period includes the previous owner's |
| Section 55(2)(b) | Section 90(9) | FMV as on 1 April 2001 in place of cost (capped at stamp-duty value, s.90(10)) |
| Section 288B | Section 516 | Tax rounded to the nearest ten rupees |
| Section 139(1) | Section 263(1)(a) | Return of income by the due date |
| Section 139(4) | Section 263(4) | Belated return, within nine months of the tax year's end |
| Section 139(5) | Section 263(5) | Revised return |
| Section 143(1) | Section 270(1) | Processing of the return and the intimation |
| Section 154 | Section 287 | Rectification of a mistake apparent from the record |
| Section 244A | Section 437 | Interest on refunds |
| Section 234A | Section 423 | Interest for a late return |
| Section 234B | Section 424 | Interest for default in advance tax |
| Section 234C | Section 425 | Interest for deferring advance-tax instalments |
| Section 234F | Section 428 | Fee for a late return |
| Section 70 | Section 108 | Set-off of a loss within the same head |
| Section 71 | Section 109 | Set-off of a loss against another head |
| Section 72 | Section 112 | Carry-forward of a business loss |
| Section 74 | Section 111 | Carry-forward of a capital loss |
| Section 24(a) | Section 22(1)(a) | 30% standard deduction on house property |
| Section 24(b) | Section 22(1)(b) | Home-loan interest on house property |
| Section 140A | Section 266 | Self-assessment tax |
| Section 211 | Section 408 | Advance-tax instalments |
| Section 87A | Section 156 | Rebate for a resident individual |
Watch one trap. The old Section 197 was the lower-TDS certificate. Under the new Act that certificate moved to Section 395 (and the application is now Form 128, was Form 13), while the number 197 has been reused for long-term capital gains. So "Section 395, formerly Section 197" means two completely different things depending on which Act someone is citing. When in doubt, ask which Act they mean.
What actually changed (not just the numbers)
A renumbering on its own is just admin. A few changes have teeth for NRIs:
DTAA claims are stricter. To claim a treaty rate you now expressly need a valid Tax Residency Certificate plus Form 41 (the old Form 10F), filed under Section 159(8). No TRC, no treaty rate. Your bank withholds the full domestic rate until it is on file.
Foreign Tax Credit asks for a CA sign-off at scale. The FTC statement is now Form 44 (was Form 67), and where the foreign tax you are claiming is large (reported as ₹1 lakh or more), a Chartered Accountant's certificate goes with it.
The remittance gate is unchanged in substance. Sending money out of India still runs on the remitter declaration (now Form 145) and a CA certificate (now Form 146) for a taxable remittance over ₹5 lakh, same gate, new numbers.
Everything else for a typical NRI. The residence day-count, how Indian-source income is taxed, the DTAA rates themselves, carries over unchanged. The Act tidied the rule book; it did not rewrite your tax position.
What this means for you right now
If you are dealing with FY 2025-26 (the return you file in 2026): use the old forms, Form 10F, Form 15CA / 15CB, the ITR as before. Nothing to relearn for this filing.
If it is income from 1 April 2026 onward: it is the new forms. Filing Form 41 for your DTAA rate, selling property and applying for a lower-TDS certificate on Form 128, or remitting funds on Form 145 / 146. Those are the numbers your bank and CA will ask for.
If you are reading an older article or a bank email that still says "Form 10F" or "Section 197", it is not necessarily wrong, check which year and which Act it is talking about before you act on it.