The Budget 2026 didn’t make any headlines for taxpayers. It didn’t roll out populist measures or tweak tax rates to put more money in your hands. But that doesn’t mean nothing happened. The Mint newsroom tracked several smaller announcements and nudges aimed at making life easier for taxpayers.
The focus this year was clearly on the ease of living, and many of the tweaks were designed with that in mind. For most taxpayers, three changes are noteworthy.
First, ITR-1 and ITR-2 forms will be redesigned to make them simpler and easier to understand. Second, taxpayers will now get an additional three months, up to 31 March of the following year, to file revised returns, with a nominal late fee. Third, the budget signals a broader intent to ease penalties and rationalize timelines to encourage voluntary compliance.
It also simplifies the purchase of non-resident Indian (NRI)-owned property by removing the TAN requirement, enabling tax deduction at source (TDS) through the buyer’s PAN. Here is a good wrap by Jash Kriplani on the budget provisions meant to make life easier for taxpayers.
Staying on the theme of the ease of living, taxpayers with insignificant foreign assets were vulnerable to prosecution under the Black Money Act due to mere oversight. Recognizing this, the budget 2026 proposes a one-time six-month window allowing taxpayers to voluntarily declare any undisclosed foreign assets or foreign-sourced income and obtain immunity from prosecution. This amnesty window is significant, especially for small taxpayers, where under-reporting is often a case of oversight rather than deliberate evasion. Here is a story by Shipra Singh explaining how this will work.
Graphic by Mint
Further budget announcements have reduced the TCS (tax collected at source) rate to 2% on overseas spends such as education, healthcare, and travel. Read Shipra Singh’s story to understand the applicable rates and thresholds beyond which TCS kicks in.
And finally, on share buybacks: the government will now tax buybacks as capital gains instead of dividend income. For minority shareholders, including employees holding stock options, the applicable long-term capital gains tax rate will be 12.5%, while promoters will face a higher rate. Here’s a detailed explainer by Shipra Singh.
Graphic by Mint
In the investment space, however, the news isn’t great. The budget has clarified that the capital gains exemption on Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) will apply only to original subscribers on maturity, effectively ending the tax-free status for secondary market buyers. While this may be an attempt to plug revenue leakages arising from elevated gold prices, it will hurt secondary buyers of SGBs. Further, as Shipra Singh found out, tax exemptions, even during the premature redemption window, will no longer be available to either primary or secondary buyers, something investors need to be mindful of. Read this story by Shipra Singh and other investment-related changes by Ann Jacob here.
Graphic by Mint
The budget also proposes a complete tax exemption on motor accident compensation, as well as on the interest awarded for delays in payment. Here is the story by Ann Jacob. And if you are looking for a big-picture takeaway from the Budget 2026, Dhirendra Kumar of Value Research, in his trademark tongue-in-cheek style, explains why the minor changes announced augur well for your money. Read his column here.
You can also watch this video where I discuss some important budget changes with Sonu Iyer of EY.
In non-budget news, Jash Kriplani brings a timely story on multi-asset funds (MAFs). As the name suggests, MAFs invest across multiple asset classes, offering diversification and smoother returns by balancing volatility across assets. These funds are mandated to allocate a minimum of 10% each to at least three asset classes and typically invest across equities, debt, gold, silver, Reits, and international equities. The story explains how MAFs were able to benefit from the gold rally, with fund managers dynamically moving between asset classes. In that sense, MAFs are well placed to reduce volatility and capture upside across cycles.
Graphic by Mint
There’s also a thoughtful story on startups, about how to prepare your financial life so it’s one less thing to worry about when you’re knee-deep in building a business. Shefali nudges readers to think more seriously about buffers such as an emergency corpus and insurance.
And finally, this important story by Ann Jacob on how the credit score is becoming the report card of your financial character. Its consequences now extend beyond loans to insurance, telephone connections and even your stockbroker. A strong credit score signals financial discipline and trustworthiness, influencing premium discounts in insurance, job offers and access to services.
In our interview this week, Shipra Singh speaks to Feroz Azeez, joint chief executive of Anand Rathi Wealth, to decode what a potential US–India trade deal, with lower tariffs, means for investors. The announcement has eased months of trade-related uncertainty, with equity markets and the rupee showing renewed confidence. Azeez cuts through the macro noise to explain how this shift could shape portfolios.
Until next week! Send in your feedback at deepti.bhaskaran@livemint.com.