Finance Act, 2004Re-read 2 September 2026Previous year 2003-04
Income-tax rates for assessment year 2004-05
The rates Finance Act, 2004 charged on the income of the previous year 2003-04, taken from the Act’s own charging section and First Schedule.
Independently re-read on 2 September 2026
A second pass went back to the department’s text at the sources listed at the foot of this page and read these figures again. That check is recorded in the record itself as verified_on: 2026-09-02.
What this year’s reading did not reach
NO CESS IS RECORDED FOR THIS ASSESSMENT YEAR, AND THAT IS DELIBERATE. Part I of the First Schedule mentions no Education Cess. The Education Cess of two per cent does appear in this Act, at section 2(11), but its opening words limit it to 'The amount of income-tax as specified in sub-sections (4) to (10)' - that is, to deduction of tax at source and to advance tax for the financial year 2004-2005 (assessment year 2005-06). It is therefore NOT a cess on the income-tax charged by section 2(1) for the assessment year commencing 1 April 2004, and has not been filed as one. Section 2 states no 'maximum amount which is not chargeable to income-tax'; the Rs. 50,000 exemption is taken from the Nil row of Paragraph A. Paragraph A has no separate table for women or for senior citizens in this year. The record does not display the Act's formal short title, so it could not be confirmed from the document whether this is the Finance Act, 2004 or the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004; section 2(1) unambiguously charges the assessment year commencing 1 April 2004. No marginal-relief proviso for the individual surcharge was returned by the fetch.
Which Act set these rates
ActFinance Act, 2004
Assessment year2004-05
Income of the previous year2003-04
What was readthe charging section and the First Schedule
Finance Act, 2004 charged income-tax for the assessment year commencing 1 April 2004. What it charged was the income of the previous year 2003-04. The two are a year apart and the difference matters: a table headed by the wrong one is useless.
The slabs
Single
individual, Hindu undivided family, association of persons, body of individuals, artificial juridical person (Part I, Paragraph A)
Maximum amount not chargeable to income-tax: Rs 50,000
| Total income | Rate of income-tax |
|---|
| Up to Rs 50,000 | Nil |
| Rs 50,001 – Rs 60,000 | 10% |
| Rs 60,001 – Rs 1,50,000 | 20% |
| Rs 1,50,001 and above | 30% |
Paragraph A as printed: does not exceed Rs. 50,000 - Nil; exceeds Rs. 50,000 but does not exceed Rs. 60,000 - 10 per cent of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs. 50,000; exceeds Rs. 60,000 but does not exceed Rs. 1,50,000 - Rs. 1,000 plus 20 per cent of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs. 60,000; exceeds Rs. 1,50,000 - Rs. 19,000 plus 30 per cent of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs. 1,50,000.
Senior citizens, very senior citizens, and women
Only where the Act for this year set a separate threshold or a separate table. Where it did not, this page says so.
Resident senior citizens
This year’s record carries no separate table or threshold under this head.
Resident very senior citizens
This year’s record carries no separate table or threshold under this head.
Resident women
This year’s record carries no separate table or threshold under this head.
Surcharge
| Total income | Surcharge on the income-tax |
|---|
| Rs 8,50,001 and above | 10% |
Part I, Paragraph A: 'in the case of every individual or Hindu undivided family or association of persons or body of individuals having a total income exceeding eight hundred and fifty thousand rupees, be reduced by the amount of rebate of income-tax calculated under Chapter VIII-A, and the income-tax as so reduced, be increased by a surcharge for purposes of the Union calculated at the rate of ten per cent of such income-tax.' Paragraphs B, C, D and E each carry a surcharge of 2.5 per cent of such income-tax.
Cess
No cess is recorded for this year.
Marginal relief
No marginal-relief provision is recorded for this year.
Companies, firms, co-operative societies and local authorities
Reproduced in the Act’s own words, because these rates carry conditions a single percentage cannot.
| Assessee | Rate as the Act states it |
|---|
| Domestic company | 35 per cent of the total income; surcharge 2.5 per cent of such income-tax |
| Foreign company | 50 per cent on royalties and fees for technical services under the specified approved agreements; 40 per cent on the balance of the total income; surcharge 2.5 per cent of such income-tax |
| Firms and limited liability partnerships | 35 per cent on the whole of the total income; surcharge 2.5 per cent of such income-tax (Part I, Paragraph C) |
| Co-operative societies | Part I, Paragraph B: total income not exceeding Rs. 10,000 - 10 per cent of the total income; exceeding Rs. 10,000 but not exceeding Rs. 20,000 - Rs. 1,000 plus 20 per cent of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs. 10,000; exceeding Rs. 20,000 - Rs. 3,000 plus 30 per cent of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs. 20,000; surcharge 2.5 per cent of such income-tax |
| Local authorities | 30 per cent on the whole of the total income; surcharge 2.5 per cent of such income-tax (Part I, Paragraph D) |
What changed from the year before
Worked out by comparing this record with the one for the preceding assessment year in this collection. Where a figure is absent from either record, that is said rather than guessed.
- Against assessment year 2003-04 (Finance Act, 2003): the single regime’s exemption limit is unchanged at Rs 50,000.
- The top slab rate is unchanged at 30%.
- The surcharge goes from 1 tier topping out at 5% to 1 tier topping out at 10%.
- The thresholds at which it starts biting move from Rs 60,001 to Rs 8,50,001.
- No cess is recorded for either year.
- The company rates are stated differently this year; read both years’ wording rather than taking a single number from either.
- The firm rate are stated differently this year; read both years’ wording rather than taking a single number from either.
- The co-operative society rates are stated differently this year; read both years’ wording rather than taking a single number from either.
- The local authority rate are stated differently this year; read both years’ wording rather than taking a single number from either.
What this page is, and what it is not
The figures are the Finance Act’s own. Every rate, threshold and exemption on this page was taken out of the Income Tax Department’s own text of the Act that charged the year — the charging section and the First Schedule — and the records we read are linked under Sources on each year’s page. The writing around the figures is ours: the arrangement, the headings, the comparison with the year before and every sentence of explanation. Those are not the Act.
These tables are for orientation. The Act governs. A rate table is a finding aid, not the law. The Act, its First Schedule and the provisos in it decide what is payable, and a table cannot carry the provisos. If you are about to rely on a figure here — in a return, in a computation, in a reply to a notice — open the source linked on the year’s page and read the figure in the Act for yourself. Where a record did not reach a rate, this library says so rather than filling the gap.