CBDT chief says 88 per cent of individual taxpayers have opted for new tax regime

New Delhi: As many as 88 per cent of individual taxpayers have moved to the new tax regime and the government is not thinking of bringing in a sunset clause for filing income tax returns under the old regime, CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal said on Wednesday.

He said selecting a particular tax regime is the choice of the taxpayers, but the response to the new regime has been “very good”.”I can tell you that when ITR 1, 2, 3 and 4 are taken together (income tax return forms used by individuals), about 88 per cent of people have moved to the new tax regime.

“And insofar as presumptive tax cases, about 97 per cent of the taxpayers have moved to the new tax regime. For corporates, about 60 per cent of the income is now being reflected in the new tax regime,” Agrawal told PTI during a post-Budget interview.

We believe, he said, with the new MAT (minimum alternate tax) provisions coming in the FY27 Budget, “it will also persuade people to move to the new tax regime”.

MAT, meant only for companies, is calculated at the rate of 15 per cent of book profit and is chargeable only when it is more than the tax on income. The Budget has proposed MAT to be the final tax and has reduced the rate from 15 to 14 per cent for companies in the old regime. Asked about the hike in STT (securities and transaction tax) proposed in the FY27 budget, the CBDT chief said it is hoped that this will “certainly dissuade retail investors from very aggressively taking up this exercise”. “Only time would tell how much it would curb, but this is an attempt from the department and the government to actually at least address this issue and flag this issue,” he said.

The Budget 2026-27 has proposed an increase in STT on futures contracts to 0.05 per cent from 0.02 per cent. STT on options premium and exercise of options are proposed to be raised to 0.15 per cent from the present rate of 0.1 per cent and 0.125 per cent, respectively.

Agrawal said he was confident about meeting the direct taxes collection target for the 2025-26 fiscal that has been revised to Rs 24.21 lakh crore in the Budget.

The old tax regime refers to the income tax calculation and slabs that existed before the introduction of the new tax regime in 2020. The old tax regime has higher tax rates, but taxpayers get the option to claim various tax deductions and exemptions. In contrast, the new regime offers lower tax rates and allows full exemption for those earning up to Rs 15 lakh a year.