Producer: Priyanka Das Editor: Manuj Yadav | January 20 , 2025

Budget 2025: 5 Key Tax Expectations

Standard Deduction Increase

Currently, salaried employees and pensioners enjoy a standard deduction of ₹50,000 under the old tax regime and ₹75,000 under the new regime. Experts suggest that this deduction could be linked to a percentage of an individual’s income, with a maximum cap of ₹1 lakh.

Revised Income Tax Slabs

The government may consider further tweaks to the income tax slabs under the new tax regime to encourage more taxpayers to opt for it. Specifically, there’s speculation that the 30% tax rate could be applied to income levels above ₹20 lakh.

Senior Citizens’ Tax Reforms

While the new tax regime has uniform slabs for all taxpayers, there’s an ongoing conversation about offering differentiated benefits for senior citizens. The government might consider raising the exemption limit or reducing the tax rates for individuals aged 60 and above.

Raising Section 80C Deduction Limit

Currently, the maximum limit for deductions under Section 80C stands at ₹1.5 lakh. However, due to inflation and increasing financial pressures on taxpayers, experts are urging the government to raise this limit further.

Possible Import Duty Hike on Gold

Concerns around India’s trade deficit may lead the government to increase the import duty on gold in Budget 2025. Currently, India imposes a 6% import tax on gold, a reduction from the previous 15%.