Finance Act, 2016Re-read 2 September 2026Previous year 2015-16
Income-tax rates for assessment year 2016-17
The rates Finance Act, 2016 charged on the income of the previous year 2015-16, 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
The First Schedule was located at content id 5302397, which was not in the original source list. The rebate under section 87A is in the Income-tax Act, not in this Finance Act, so no rebate figure is recorded.
Which Act set these rates
ActFinance Act, 2016
Assessment year2016-17
Income of the previous year2015-16
What was readthe charging section and the First Schedule
Finance Act, 2016 charged income-tax for the assessment year commencing 1 April 2016. What it charged was the income of the previous year 2015-16. The two are a year apart and the difference matters: a table headed by the wrong one is useless.
The slabs
Old
every individual other than the individual referred to in items (II) and (III) of Paragraph A, Hindu undivided family, association of persons, body of individuals whether incorporated or not, or every artificial juridical person referred to in sub-clause (vii) of clause (31) of section 2 of the Income-tax Act, not being a case to which any other Paragraph of Part I applies
Maximum amount not chargeable to income-tax: Rs 2,50,000
| Total income | Rate of income-tax |
|---|
| Up to Rs 2,50,000 | Nil |
| Rs 2,50,001 – Rs 5,00,000 | 10% |
| Rs 5,00,001 – Rs 10,00,000 | 20% |
| Rs 10,00,001 and above | 30% |
First Schedule, Part I, Paragraph A, item (I). Rs. 25,000 plus 20 per cent above Rs. 5,00,000; Rs. 1,25,000 plus 30 per cent above Rs. 10,00,000. 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
Paragraph A, item (II): every individual, being a resident in India, who is of the age of sixty years or more but less than eighty years at any time during the previous year. Rs. 20,000 plus 20 per cent above Rs. 5,00,000; Rs. 1,20,000 plus 30 per cent above Rs. 10,00,000.
Maximum amount not chargeable to income-tax: Rs 3,00,000
| Total income | Rate of income-tax |
|---|
| Up to Rs 3,00,000 | Nil |
| Rs 3,00,001 – Rs 5,00,000 | 10% |
| Rs 5,00,001 – Rs 10,00,000 | 20% |
| Rs 10,00,001 and above | 30% |
Resident very senior citizens
Paragraph A, item (III): every individual, being a resident in India, who is of the age of eighty years or more at any time during the previous year. Rs. 1,00,000 plus 30 per cent above Rs. 10,00,000.
Maximum amount not chargeable to income-tax: Rs 5,00,000
| Total income | Rate of income-tax |
|---|
| Up to Rs 5,00,000 | Nil |
| Rs 5,00,001 – Rs 10,00,000 | 20% |
| Rs 10,00,001 and above | 30% |
Resident women
This year’s record carries no separate table or threshold under this head.
Surcharge
| Total income | Surcharge on the income-tax |
|---|
| Rs 1,00,00,000 and above | 12% |
Paragraph A: the income-tax computed under Paragraph A or under section 111A or section 112 of the Income-tax Act is increased by a surcharge for the purposes of the Union at the rate of 12 per cent of such income-tax where the total income exceeds one crore rupees. This is the only surcharge tier in Paragraph A for this assessment year; the fifty lakh rupee tier did not yet exist.
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) as increased by the applicable surcharge; sub-section (1) is the charge for this assessment year, so both apply.
Marginal relief
Paragraph A proviso: the total amount payable as income-tax and surcharge on a total income exceeding one crore rupees shall not exceed the total amount payable as income-tax on a total income of one crore rupees by more than the amount of income that exceeds one crore rupees.
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 seven per cent of such income-tax where the total income exceeds one crore rupees but does not exceed ten crore rupees, and twelve per cent where it exceeds ten crore rupees (Paragraph E). No reduced turnover-based rate appears in Paragraph E for this assessment year. |
| Foreign company | 50 per cent on royalties and fees for technical services received under the approved agreements described in Paragraph E, and 40 per cent on the balance of the total income; surcharge two per cent of such income-tax where the total income exceeds one crore rupees but does not exceed ten crore rupees, and five per cent where it exceeds ten crore rupees |
| Firms and limited liability partnerships | 30 per cent on the whole of the total income; surcharge twelve per cent of such income-tax where the total income exceeds one crore rupees (Paragraph C) |
| Co-operative societies | 10 per cent of the total income where the total income does not exceed Rs. 10,000; Rs. 1,000 plus 20 per cent of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs. 10,000 where it exceeds Rs. 10,000 but does not exceed Rs. 20,000; Rs. 3,000 plus 30 per cent of the amount by which the total income exceeds Rs. 20,000 where it exceeds Rs. 20,000 (Paragraph B); surcharge twelve per cent of such income-tax where the total income exceeds one crore rupees |
| Local authorities | 30 per cent on the whole of the total income; surcharge twelve per cent of such income-tax where the total income exceeds one crore rupees (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 2015-16 (Finance Act, 2015): the old regime’s exemption limit is unchanged at Rs 2,50,000.
- The top slab rate is unchanged at 30%.
- The surcharge goes from 1 tier topping out at 10% to 1 tier topping out at 12%.
- The cess is unchanged: 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 is unchanged at Rs 3,00,000.
- The separate threshold for resident very senior citizens is unchanged at Rs 5,00,000.
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.