What did the 2024 Budget change in income tax?
The Union Budget presented in July 2024, for FY 2024-25, reset the new-regime slabs for that year and provided that the angel-tax clause in section 56(2)(viib) does not apply on or after 1 April 2025. It is not the slab table for FY 2025-26. Those rates are on the Budget 2025 page.
Which year do these figures belong to?
The receipts, expenditure, and fiscal-deficit percentages announced with that speech were estimates for FY 2024-25. That year has closed. They are not the estimates for a later budget. This page keeps the tax changes that were enacted, not the spending totals.
What were the new-regime slabs?
For income of FY 2024-25 the new regime used these bands.
- Up to ₹3 lakh: nil
- ₹3 lakh to ₹7 lakh: 5 percent
- ₹7 lakh to ₹10 lakh: 10 percent
- ₹10 lakh to ₹12 lakh: 15 percent
- ₹12 lakh to ₹15 lakh: 20 percent
- Above ₹15 lakh: 30 percent
A return for assessment year 2026-27, which taxes FY 2025-26, does not use this table. Section 80C, where it still applies, is only in the old regime, on the 80C page.
What happened to angel tax?
The Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 added a proviso that section 56(2)(viib) does not apply on or after 1 April 2025. The clause was not repealed. Who was charged, and what the older DPIIT exemption required, is on the angel tax page.
What changed for a foreign company?
The base rate of tax on a foreign company was reduced from 40 percent to 35 percent. Surcharge and the health and education cess sit on top of that rate. A domestic company was not moved onto this 35 percent rate. Its rates remain the ones already used on the company pages, including 22 percent under section 115BAA before surcharge and cess.
Frequently asked questions
Four questions cover the later slabs, angel tax, the deficit estimate, and the foreign-company rate.
Are the 2024 slabs the new regime for FY 2025-26?
No. Those slabs were for FY 2024-25. FY 2025-26 uses the slabs on the Budget 2025 page, which start with no tax up to ₹4 lakh.
Did the Budget delete section 56(2)(viib)?
No. It added a proviso that the clause does not apply on or after 1 April 2025. The angel-tax page states who was charged before that.
Is 4.9 percent of GDP still the budget estimate to use?
That was an estimate for FY 2024-25, which has ended. It is not the estimate for a later year.
Is 35 percent the whole tax on a foreign company?
No. The Budget reduced the base rate for a foreign company from 40 percent to 35 percent. Surcharge and cess are separate.
Sources
The changes are in the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024. Later slabs are in the Finance Act, 2025.