New Tax Rates, UPI, and GST: Key Changes Effective April 1, 2025
From Tax Slab Adjustments to UPI Innovations and the New Unified Pension Scheme: A Comprehensive Overview of Upcoming Changes
New Tax Rates, UPI, and Unified Pension Scheme: Key Changes Coming into Effect on April 1, 2025
From April 1, 2025, there will be a package of regulatory and financial shifts, and these changes will affect the residents of the whole country. The changes include the modifications in tax slabs, the enhancements in the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and the launching of the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), so here is the complete list of the changes you can expect.
New Tax Slabs and Rates
The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a new tax slabs and rates proposal during her budget speech in the Parliament session that will come into force. As per the new tax structure, People who are earning Rs 12 lakh or less anually will not pay taxes under this new regime’ ‘government. On top of that, employees, such as those who get a salary, should take the 75,000 rupees standard deduction that reduces the taxable amount up to 12, 75,000 rupees.
The revised income tax slabs and rates are as follows:
| Income Tax Slabs | New Income Tax Rates |
| 0 – Rs 4 lakh | No tax |
| Rs 4 lakh – Rs 8 lakh | 5% |
| Rs 8 lakh – Rs 12 lakh | 10% |
| Rs 12 lakh – Rs 16 lakh | 15% |
| Rs 16 lakh – Rs 20 lakh | 20% |
| Rs 20 lakh – Rs 24 lakh | 25% |
| Above Rs 24 lakh | 30% |
Unified Pension Scheme
The Unified Pension Scheme, which was kicked off by the government on the 1st of August 2024, is now going to be made real and it will encompass the same period of time as the former year. This initiative is aimed to cover approximately 23 lakh central government employees who will be able to enjoy a benefit from this program. For those under UPS, who have been engaged for at least 25 years, they will be entitled to 50% of their average basic salary for the last 12 months, thus ensuring economic security in their retirement stage.
Changes to UPI
The security and efficacy of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have been improved via a series of instructions that have been rolling out to the public. One of the measures issued is the requirement to the banks and third-party UPI providers to phase out inactive mobile numbers that are linked to UPI accounts, which in effect, can expose the accounts to serious security risks.
The NPCI through its representative mentioned, “The Banks and Payment Service Provider Apps shall use the Mobile Number Revocation List/Digital Intelligence Platform (MNRL/DIP) and update their database accordingly at regular intervals, at least on a weekly basis.” So, in order to circumvent such a situation, the users are advised to update their banks with the latest mobile numbers that, with time, they have casually abandoned but still tied to UPI. The UPI system, on the other hand, will be modified to serve the taxpayers better.
Updates to GST Regulations
The implementation of one year leads to the very controversial amendments of doing business in India as defined in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. For instance, the introduction of MFA was a major step towards security enhancement whereby multi-factor authentication became the order of the day for the taxpayers to transact on the GST portal. Being able to run E-Way Bills (EWBs) only for the base document not older than 180 days is the EWB’s specific change. There will also be an integration of the e-invoicing system, and others to limit non-compliance.
