Finance Act, 2008Re-read 2 September 2026Previous year 2007-08
Income-tax rates for assessment year 2008-09
The rates Finance Act, 2008 charged on the income of the previous year 2007-08, 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.
Which Act set these rates
ActFinance Act, 2008
Assessment year2008-09
Income of the previous year2007-08
What was readthe charging section and the First Schedule
Finance Act, 2008 charged income-tax for the assessment year commencing 1 April 2008. What it charged was the income of the previous year 2007-08. The two are a year apart and the difference matters: a table headed by the wrong one is useless.
The slabs
Old
individual (other than a resident woman below sixty-five and a resident individual of sixty-five years or more), HUF, AOP, BOI, artificial juridical person
Maximum amount not chargeable to income-tax: Rs 1,10,000
| Total income | Rate of income-tax |
|---|
| Up to Rs 1,10,000 | Nil |
| Rs 1,10,001 – Rs 1,50,000 | 10% |
| Rs 1,50,001 – Rs 2,50,000 | 20% |
| Rs 2,50,001 and above | 30% |
First Schedule, Part I, Paragraph A, sub-paragraph (i). Single regime; section 115BAC did not exist.
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
resident individual of the age of sixty-five years or more (Paragraph A, sub-paragraph (iii)); the age threshold this year is 65, not 60
Maximum amount not chargeable to income-tax: Rs 1,95,000
| Total income | Rate of income-tax |
|---|
| Up to Rs 1,95,000 | Nil |
| Rs 1,95,001 – Rs 2,50,000 | 20% |
| Rs 2,50,001 and above | 30% |
Resident very senior citizens
This year’s record carries no separate table or threshold under this head.
Resident women
woman resident in India and below the age of sixty-five years (Paragraph A, sub-paragraph (ii))
Maximum amount not chargeable to income-tax: Rs 1,45,000
| Total income | Rate of income-tax |
|---|
| Up to Rs 1,45,000 | Nil |
| Rs 1,45,001 – Rs 1,50,000 | 10% |
| Rs 1,50,001 – Rs 2,50,000 | 20% |
| Rs 2,50,001 and above | 30% |
Surcharge
| Total income | Surcharge on the income-tax |
|---|
| Rs 10,00,000 and above | 10% |
Paragraph A: every individual, HUF, AOP or BOI having a total income exceeding ten lakh rupees, at 10 per cent of such income-tax. The 10 per cent / 2.5 per cent surcharges above one crore rupees belong to Paragraphs C and E (firms and companies), not to individuals.
Cess
| Cess | Rate |
|---|
| Education Cess | 2% |
| Secondary and Higher Education Cess | 1% |
Section 2(11) and 2(12) compute both cesses on the income-tax as specified in sub-sections (1) to (10); sub-section (1) is the charge for this assessment year, so both cesses apply to AY 2008-09.
Marginal relief
Paragraph A: for persons with a total income exceeding ten lakh rupees, the total amount payable as income-tax and surcharge shall not exceed the total amount payable as income-tax on a total income of ten lakh rupees by more than the amount of income that exceeds ten lakh rupees. Paragraphs C and E carry the same relief at the one crore rupees threshold.
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 | 30 per cent of the total income; surcharge 10 per cent of such income-tax where total income exceeds one crore rupees |
| Foreign company | 40 per cent, and 50 per cent on specified royalties and fees for technical services received under approved agreements made before 1 April 1976; surcharge two and one-half per cent where total income exceeds one crore rupees |
| Firms and limited liability partnerships | 30 per cent on the whole of the total income; surcharge 10 per cent where total income exceeds one crore rupees |
| Co-operative societies | up to Rs. 10,000: 10 per cent; Rs. 10,001 to Rs. 20,000: Rs. 1,000 plus 20 per cent of the excess over Rs. 10,000; above Rs. 20,000: Rs. 3,000 plus 30 per cent of the excess over Rs. 20,000. No surcharge under Paragraph B. |
| Local authorities | 30 per cent on the whole of the total income; no surcharge under 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 2007-08 (Finance Act, 2007): the previous record’s ‘individuals generally’ limit of Rs 1,00,000 has no counterpart under that name this year.
- Against assessment year 2007-08 (Finance Act, 2007): a regime described as ‘old’ carries an exemption limit of Rs 1,10,000 this year; the previous record carries no limit under that name.
- Against assessment year 2007-08 (Finance Act, 2007): the previous record’s ‘resident individual sixty-five or more’ limit of Rs 1,85,000 has no counterpart under that name this year.
- Against assessment year 2007-08 (Finance Act, 2007): the previous record’s ‘resident woman below sixty-five’ limit of Rs 1,35,000 has no counterpart under that name this year.
- The top slab rate is unchanged at 30%.
- The surcharge is unchanged: 1 tier, topping out at 10%.
- The thresholds at which it starts biting move from Rs 10,00,001 to Rs 10,00,000.
- The cess changes from Education Cess on income-tax 2% to Education Cess 2%; Secondary and Higher Education Cess 1%.
- 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.
- The separate threshold for resident senior citizens moves from Rs 1,85,000 to Rs 1,95,000.
- The separate table for resident women appears this year; the previous record has none.
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.