If you have landed here because a form, a bank or a payroll system asked you for "the tax year", the answer is short: in India it is 1 April to 31 March, and the one running today is Tax Year 2026-27. If you are here because the assessment year has disappeared from the law and you want to know what took its place, that answer is below too, with the section numbers.
What is the tax year in India?
The tax year is the twelve-month period of the financial year that starts on 1 April. Section 3(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 defines it in those words, so Tax Year 2026-27 means 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.
India does not use a calendar tax year and it does not let you choose your own. Companies, LLPs, firms, trusts and individuals all use the same 1 April to 31 March period, whatever their accounting year looks like abroad. If a foreign form asks for your tax year end, it is 31 March.
Which tax year is current?
Tax Year 2026-27, from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. It is the first tax year under the Income-tax Act, 2025, which came into force on 1 April 2026.
The year before it never gets a tax-year label. Income earned between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026 is FY 2025-26, it is taxed under the Income-tax Act, 1961, and its return was filed for AY 2026-27. That return season is over: the non-audit due date was 31 July 2026 and the audit-case date 31 October 2026. See ITR due dates for AY 2026-27.
So as of today there are two live vocabularies, and which one you use depends only on which year the income belongs to.
Tax year, previous year and assessment year: the mapping
One period, one name, from 1 April 2026. Before that date, one period, two names. This table is the whole change:
| Income earned | Old labels | Tax year label | Act that applies | Return filed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Apr 2024 to 31 Mar 2025 | FY 2024-25, assessed in AY 2025-26 | None. This year has no tax-year label | Income-tax Act, 1961 | 2025 |
| 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2026 | FY 2025-26, assessed in AY 2026-27 | None. This year has no tax-year label | Income-tax Act, 1961 | 2026 |
| 1 Apr 2026 to 31 Mar 2027 | Would have been FY 2026-27 and AY 2027-28 | Tax Year 2026-27 | Income-tax Act, 2025 | 2027 |
| 1 Apr 2027 to 31 Mar 2028 | Would have been FY 2027-28 and AY 2028-29 | Tax Year 2027-28 | Income-tax Act, 2025 | 2028 |
Read the table by row, not by column. The temptation is to look for an assessment year against Tax Year 2026-27 and pick AY 2027-28. There is no such year. The Income-tax Department's transition FAQ puts it plainly: the term assessment year has been discontinued, and there is no missing year and no overlap between the two Acts.
Under the 1961 Act the year you earned in was the previous year and the year you were taxed in was the assessment year, one year later. Income of FY 2024-25 was assessed in AY 2025-26. Two labels, twelve months apart, for things that felt identical. That is what produced the classic mistake of paying tax or filing a return against the wrong year on the portal.
Under the 2025 Act there is only the year you earned in. You file the Tax Year 2026-27 return in 2027, but the return is still labelled Tax Year 2026-27, not 2027-28. For the wider reform, see what the Income-tax Act, 2025 changes.
When your first tax year is shorter than twelve months
If a business or profession is newly set up during a financial year, or a new source of income comes into existence during it, your first tax year starts on that date and ends on the following 31 March. Section 3(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 says so.
For a company incorporated on 12 August 2026, the first tax year is 12 August 2026 to 31 March 2027, and it is still called Tax Year 2026-27. The label is the financial year; the period inside it can be shorter. This matters for the first set of accounts, the first advance tax working and the first return, and it is the point most summaries of the new Act leave out.
What changes for filing dates and forms
The calendar does not move. The paperwork is renumbered.
Return due dates for Tax Year 2026-27 are prescribed by section 263(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 and follow the same pattern as before:
| Who | Due date |
|---|---|
| Individuals and others with no audit requirement | 31 July |
| Business or profession with no audit requirement | 31 August |
| Companies and taxpayers whose accounts are audited | 31 October |
| A partner of a firm whose accounts are audited | 31 October |
Advance tax instalments are unchanged: 15 June, 15 September, 15 December and 15 March, in the same proportions.
Forms are renumbered. The new ITR forms sit under the Income-tax Rules, 2026 and are notified before the due dates. The other everyday forms have already changed number, and this is where a payroll or accounts team feels the switch:
| What it does | Up to FY 2025-26 (1961 Act) | Tax Year 2026-27 onwards (2025 Act) |
|---|---|---|
| Salary TDS certificate | Form 16 | Form 130 |
| Non-salary TDS certificate | Form 16A | Form 131 |
| Quarterly salary TDS statement | Form 24Q | Form 138 |
| Quarterly non-salary TDS statement | Form 26Q | Form 140 |
| TDS statement for payments to non-residents | Form 27Q | Form 144 |
| Quarterly TCS statement | Form 27EQ | Form 143 |
| TDS on property, rent and similar payments | Form 26QB, 26QC, 26QD, 26QE | Form 141 |
| Certificate for those payments | Form 16B, 16C, 16D, 16E | Form 132 |
| Lower or nil deduction certificate | Form 13 | Form 128 |
| Tax audit report | Form 3CA, 3CB and 3CD | Form 26 |
| Relief for salary arrears | Form 10E | Form 39 |
| Foreign remittance information | Form 15CA and 15CB | Form 145 and Form 146 |
Quarters and payments that fall up to 31 March 2026, including corrections to them, stay on the old form numbers. The new numbers apply to payments from 1 April 2026. See our notes on TDS return filing and TDS on property for how each of those is filed in practice, and Form 16 and Form 130 for the salary certificate on each side of the change.
What does not change
- The 1 April to 31 March cycle. Same twelve months, new name.
- Tax rates and slabs. The Finance Act, 2026 kept the rates that applied to FY 2025-26 for Tax Year 2026-27.
- The due-date pattern, the advance tax dates, and who has to file.
- TDS rates and thresholds, which were carried over rather than reset.
- Residency tests, so an NRI's status is worked out the same way.
- Your PAN, your portal login and your history. Nothing is re-issued.
Old years still use the assessment year
This is where people get caught. The 1961 Act was repealed with effect from 1 April 2026, but section 536(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 keeps it alive for everything to do with earlier years.
That means a notice, an assessment, a reassessment, an appeal, a penalty, a refund or an updated return for AY 2026-27 or any earlier year continues to be dealt with under the 1961 Act, in the assessment-year language, even though the proceeding is running in 2026 or later. Rights and liabilities that arose under the old Act survive, and so do carried-forward losses and MAT or AMT credits.
So if a letter reaches you in December 2026 referring to AY 2024-25, nothing has gone wrong. The old label is correct for that year and will stay correct. The same applies to belated, revised and updated returns for those years.
Choosing the right year on the portal
On incometax.gov.in you now choose between two kinds of year, and the rule is simple: pick the label that belongs to the year the income was earned in.
- Filing, revising or updating a return for income up to 31 March 2026: select the assessment year, for example AY 2026-27.
- Filing for income earned from 1 April 2026: select Tax Year 2026-27.
- Paying advance tax or self-assessment tax: the challan follows the same choice, so a wrong selection here is what creates a credit sitting against a year you do not owe.
If you have already mis-selected a year on a challan, it is correctable, but it is faster to get it right than to get it corrected.
Key takeaways
- India's tax year is 1 April to 31 March, and the current one is Tax Year 2026-27.
- Section 3(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 defines it; section 3(2) gives a shorter first tax year to a new business.
- The tax year replaces both previous year and assessment year. The assessment year has been discontinued.
- FY 2025-26 and earlier years keep the assessment-year language under the Income-tax Act, 1961.
- Dates and rates do not change. Form numbers do: Form 16 becomes Form 130, Form 24Q becomes Form 138.
- Our compliance calendar lists the dates for both Acts.
Filing across the changeover? The transition year is where wrong-year selections and wrong-form filings happen. Our team files under both Acts and checks which one your year sits in before anything is submitted. Talk to a CA on +91 70444 94804 or WhatsApp us on the same number, or see income tax return filing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the tax year in India?
The tax year in India is the twelve-month period from 1 April to 31 March. Section 3(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 defines it as the twelve months of the financial year commencing on 1 April. Every taxpayer uses the same period, and it cannot be changed to a calendar year or to a foreign parent company's year end.
What is the current tax year in India?
Tax Year 2026-27, which runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. It is the first tax year under the Income-tax Act, 2025, in force from 1 April 2026. Its return is filed in 2027, and it is still labelled Tax Year 2026-27 when you file it, not 2027-28.
Which concept has replaced previous year and assessment year?
The tax year. The Income-tax Act, 2025 uses one term, the tax year, in place of the pair of previous year and assessment year. It is not the financial year, the accounting year or the calendar year, although the tax year covers the same 1 April to 31 March period as the financial year.
Is the tax year the same as the financial year?
It covers the same twelve months, 1 April to 31 March, so in practice the dates are identical. The difference is what it replaces. The financial year always had an assessment year sitting a year behind it. The tax year has no second label, because income is now taxed with reference to the year it was earned in.
What happened to the assessment year?
It has been discontinued under the Income-tax Act, 2025. There is no assessment year for Tax Year 2026-27 and none for any later year. It still applies to earlier years: income up to 31 March 2026 was assessed for AY 2026-27 or earlier under the Income-tax Act, 1961, and those years keep that label permanently.
What is the current assessment year?
AY 2026-27 is the last assessment year, and it covers income earned in FY 2025-26, from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. Its return was due on 31 July 2026 for non-audit taxpayers and 31 October 2026 for audit cases. From income earned on 1 April 2026 onwards there is no assessment year, only Tax Year 2026-27.
What does Tax Year 2026-27 mean, in financial year terms?
It means FY 2026-27, that is 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Under the old system the same income would have been described as FY 2026-27 assessed in AY 2027-28. The tax year keeps the earning year and drops the assessment year, so the label you see is the year the income arose in.
Does the tax year change my filing due date?
No. Section 263(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 keeps the existing pattern: 31 July for taxpayers with no audit requirement, 31 August for business or professional income with no audit requirement, and 31 October for companies, audited taxpayers and partners of audited firms. Advance tax stays on 15 June, 15 September, 15 December and 15 March.
What is my tax year if I incorporated my company mid-year?
It starts on the date the business was set up and ends on 31 March. Section 3(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 provides this for a business or profession newly set up, or a new source of income, during a financial year. A company incorporated on 12 August 2026 has a first tax year of 12 August 2026 to 31 March 2027, still called Tax Year 2026-27.
Which Act applies to my FY 2025-26 return?
The Income-tax Act, 1961. Income earned from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 is assessed for AY 2026-27 under the old Act, on the ITR-1 to ITR-7 forms. The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies to income earned from 1 April 2026, which is Tax Year 2026-27, and its returns go on the forms notified under the Income-tax Rules, 2026.
Can I still receive a notice for an old assessment year?
Yes. Section 536(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 keeps the 1961 Act in force for proceedings that relate to years beginning before 1 April 2026, whether the proceeding was already pending or starts later. Assessments, reassessments, appeals, penalties, refunds and updated returns for AY 2026-27 and earlier continue in assessment-year language.
Tax Year aur Assessment Year me kya farak hai?
Tax Year wahi 1 April se 31 March ka period hai jisme aap income kamate hain, aur Income-tax Act, 2025 ke tehat sirf yehi ek label rehta hai. Assessment Year purane 1961 Act ka doosra label tha, jo income wale saal ke ek saal baad aata tha. 1 April 2026 se Assessment Year khatam ho gaya hai, lekin FY 2025-26 aur usse pehle ke saalon par wahi purana label lagta rahega.
About the author
CA Deepak Jaiswal
Founding Partner, FCA at Regikart. Want to discuss this in the context of your business?
