Chapter IX of the Income-tax Act, 2025 runs from section 155 to section 160 and covers rebates and reliefs. Its 6 sections replace 7 sections of the Income-tax Act, 1961. This guide gives the complete section-by-section mapping between the two Acts.
What Chapter IX covers
Chapter IX is small but high-traffic: it carries the rebate that takes most small taxpayers to nil tax, the arrears relief, and the double taxation relief provisions.
Chapter IX contains 6 sections (sections 155 to 160). Between them they carry forward the substance of 7 sections of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
The Income-tax Act, 2025 received Presidential assent on 21 August 2025 and takes effect from 1 April 2026. The Income-tax Act, 1961 continues to govern every tax year up to 31 March 2026, and all assessments, appeals, penalties and prosecutions relating to those years are completed under the old Act by virtue of the repeal and savings provision in section 536. The mapping on this page is drawn from the section-wise concordance published with the Act, including the corrigenda notified in the Gazette on 3 September 2025.
What changed in Chapter IX
- Section 156 is the section 87A rebate — the provision that decides whether a taxpayer pays anything at all at the lower end of the slab table.
- Section 157 carries section 89, relief where salary is received in arrears or in advance (the Form 10E relief).
- Section 159 merges sections 90 and 90A, so treaty relief with foreign countries and with specified territories sits in one place; section 160 carries section 91 for countries with no agreement.
- Section 158 carries section 89A — relief on income from a retirement benefit account maintained in a notified country.
Chapter IX: complete section mapping (2025 → 1961)
Every section of Chapter IX is listed below with the section or sections of the Income-tax Act, 1961 that it corresponds to. Where a section is marked as read with a Schedule, the operative detail sits in that Schedule rather than in the section itself.
| New section (2025) | Provision | Corresponding 1961 section(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 155 | Rebate to be allowed in computing income-tax | 87 |
| 156 | Rebate of income-tax in case of certain individuals | 87A |
| 157 | Relief when salary, etc., is paid in arrears or in advance | 89 |
| 158 | Relief from taxation in income from retirement benefit account maintained in a notified country | 89A |
| 159 | Agreement with foreign countries or specified territories and adoption by Central Government of Agreement between Specified associations for double taxation relief | 90, 90A |
| 160 | Countries with which no agreement exists | 91 |
How to use this mapping
- Working on a year up to 2025-26? Use the 1961 section in the right-hand column. The old Act governs those years under section 536.
- Working on tax year 2026-27 onwards? Use the new section number in the left-hand column, and read the section text rather than assuming the old provision was copied verbatim.
- Drafting a reply or an appeal? Cite the section that applies to the year in dispute, not the section in force when you are writing.
- Updating templates and software? Sections that merged — shown where one new section maps to several old ones — need the most attention, because a single new provision now carries what were separate conditions.
This page is a structural mapping guide, not tax advice. A corresponding section is not always an identical section — several provisions were merged, split or re-worded when they were carried over. Always read the actual text of the new section before relying on it, and check for later amendments, rules and CBDT notifications.