Methodology: how we verify every article

Step 1 — Primary statutory text

Every claim is first traced to the verbatim text of the relevant section in the underlying Act. For AY 2025-26 returns and earlier, that is the Income-tax Act 1961 (India Code consolidated PDF). For AY 2026-27 returns onwards, it is the Income-tax Act 2025 (CBDT official landing). The CBDT 1961-↔-2025 provisions concordance utility is used to confirm section mapping.

Step 2 — Rules and forms

Procedural and form-level claims are cross-checked against the Income-tax Rules 1962 (for AY 2025-26 and earlier) and the Income-tax Rules 2026 as listed on the CBDT Notifications index (in force from 1 April 2026 for AY 2026-27 onwards).

Step 3 — CBDT clarifications

Due-date, threshold and interpretation claims are cross-checked with the latest CBDT circulars and the CBDT FAQs on Interplay & Transitions — Income-tax Act 2025. Specific circulars and notified ITR forms are tracked on the CBDT Circulars index and the CBDT Income Tax Returns page.

Step 4 — ICAI professional guidance

F&O turnover formulae and tax-audit procedural items are verified against the ICAI Guidance Note on Tax Audit. For AY 2026-27 onward, we default to the GN 2025 treatment: option-sale premium is included, while avoiding double-counting where that premium is already included in the transaction result. Earlier ICAI positions are used only for prior-year context.

Step 5 — e-Filing portal evidence

Where a claim depends on what the e-Filing portal actually does — form fields, validation rules, JSON schema, downloadable utilities — we cite the relevant page on incometax.gov.in.

The Income-tax Act 1961 stands repealed from 1 April 2026 by Section 536 of the Income-tax Act 2025. The 2025 Act commences on the same date. This produces a clean cut-over:

• AY 2025-26 (FY 2024-25 income) — 1961 Act applies.
• AY 2026-27 onwards (FY 2025-26 income and later) — 2025 Act applies.

Every article that touches a statutory section names both the 1961 section and its 2025 successor with the relevant AY cut-over. The most consequential changes for F&O traders are:

• Section 43(5) speculative-transaction definition → Sections 2(31) and 2(33). The recognised-stock-exchange F&O carve-out survives unchanged.
• Section 44AA books-of-account requirement → Section 62.
• Section 44AB tax audit (thresholds ₹1 cr / ₹10 cr / ₹50 L) → Section 63. Thresholds carry over verbatim.
• Sections 44AD / 44ADA / 44AE presumptive taxation → Section 58.
• Sections 70 / 71 / 71(2A) / 72 / 73 / 73A / 74 loss set-off and carry-forward → Sections 108-114.
• Section 80 timely-return rule → Section 117.
• Section 139(1) ITR filing → Section 263(1).
• Section 143(1)(a)(iii) intimation → Section 270(1)(a)(iv).
• Section 271B audit-failure penalty → Section 428(c) audit-failure fee. The character changed from a penalty (uncapped, with Section 273B defence) to a fee (₹75,000 if delay ≤ 1 month, ₹1,50,000 thereafter, no Section 273B defence). This is one of the most consequential 1961-→-2025 shifts for F&O traders and we flag it on every audit-route article.

Our quality gate sorts every article into one of three publication states. Only fully verified articles are published in the article index.

• Published: Passed all five ladder steps. Carries inline official-source citations, dual-citation framing, audit-fee callout on audit-route articles, and full JSON-LD schema.
• Supporting: Useful supporting page that has not yet met the verified-publication threshold. It is kept out of the public article index until promoted.
• Archived: Off-topic, duplicated, or superseded by a verified canonical article. It is not part of the public article index.