New Income Tax Act: what property owners face

By Parish Rao · 24 August 2026 · 6 minute read

From 1 April 2026, India runs on a new income tax law. The old 1961 Act, after six decades of patches, has been replaced. Here is the calm version of what it means if you own property.

First, the reassuring part

The new Act was written mainly to simplify language and renumber sections, not to change how much tax you pay. The big property rules survived the rewrite. Profits from selling property are still taxed as capital gains. The 1 April 2001 value can still replace an old purchase price. Inflation indexing still exists where the law allows it.

So if you were planning a sale, nothing about the new law should panic you into delaying or rushing it.

What actually changed for ordinary owners

• Section numbers moved. Rules you knew by heart under the old numbers live at new addresses now. If you search an old section number today, check the date on what you find.
• The tax year is stated more simply. The confusing dance of previous year and assessment year has been cleaned up into one tax year.
• Old articles are now half wrong. Twenty years of internet advice quotes the 1961 Act. The ideas often still hold, the citations do not.

What property owners should check this year

If your income crosses fifty lakh rupees, the assets and liabilities schedule in your return still wants your property listed at cost. Inherited and very old properties still need that cost established properly, which is where a certified valuation earns its fee.

If you sold property recently or plan to, ask your CA which computation applies to you under the new law. Get the underlying valuation done once, properly, so the same figure serves every filing that follows.

What has not changed, and matters most

Three things property owners rely on survived the rewrite intact.

• The 1 April 2001 substitution. For property acquired before that date, you can still use its market value then as your cost. On an old family property this remains the single largest tax saver available.
• The requirement for evidence. A claimed value still has to be defensible, and an assessing officer can still refer it for a fresh valuation. Nothing in the new Act makes a weak report safer.
• The stamp duty value comparison. Selling below the notified rate still has consequences for both buyer and seller, as covered in our post on the circle rate tax trap.

Where people are getting caught out

The confusion is mostly practical rather than legal. Old articles, old templates and old advice all cite section numbers that no longer exist. A CA will handle that easily. The risk is the owner who reads a 2019 blog post, believes a rule has been removed, and makes a decision on it.

If you are relying on something you read online about property tax, check the date on it. Anything written before 2026 needs verifying against the current law before you act on it.

Our part in this

We are valuers, not tax advisors, and the split matters. Your CA reads the law. We certify what the property was worth, on whichever date the law cares about: 1 April 2001, a date of death, or today. New Act, same need for honest numbers.

Unsure which report your situation needs? The free which report tool answers it in five questions, or read about capital gains valuation.