Income Tax e-Filing Portal Launches Integrated Payment Module for Old and New Tax Laws

The Income Tax Department has made a new Integrated Payment Module live on the e-Filing portal, allowing taxpayers to make payments under both the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the Income Tax Act, 2025 through a single interface.

According to the Department's current e-Filing homepage, the module supports payments under the existing 1961 Act for dues up to FY 2025-26, while payments under the Income Tax Act, 2025 are supported for Tax Year 2026-27 onwards.

Why an integrated payment module was needed

The transition to the Income Tax Act, 2025 creates a period in which taxpayers and professionals may need to deal with liabilities belonging to different statutory regimes. Older assessments, self-assessment amounts, regular demands or other dues can still relate to periods governed by the 1961 Act, even while current-period compliance moves to the 2025 Act.

Instead of forcing users to navigate entirely separate payment environments for the two laws, the Department says the new module enables seamless payments across both frameworks from one interface.

How the period split works

The Department's wording draws a clear operational boundary. Payments relating to dues up to FY 2025-26 continue under the Income-tax Act, 1961. Payments for Tax Year 2026-27 onwards fall under the Income Tax Act, 2025.

For CAs and tax teams, that distinction should be treated as a control point before generating a challan or initiating payment. The correct legal framework depends on the period and nature of the liability, not merely on the date on which the taxpayer is making the payment.

Practical checks before making payment

- Identify the financial year or tax year to which the liability relates.

- Confirm whether the liability falls under the Income-tax Act, 1961 or the Income Tax Act, 2025.

- Review the assessment, demand, return or other underlying compliance document before selecting payment particulars.

- Retain the payment challan and map it to the relevant client ledger, demand or return file.

- Where a payment is being made against an outstanding demand, confirm the demand details on the portal before remittance.

What does not change

The Department's tax-payment guidance states that the core obligation to pay income tax—including tax deducted or collected at source, advance tax, self-assessment tax and regular assessment tax—continues under the new law. The key portal change is therefore the payment experience and statutory routing, not the disappearance of established categories of tax payment.

Why this matters for professional workflows

During a legislative transition, one of the biggest operational risks is applying the right procedure to the wrong period. A common payment interface can make the user experience simpler, but it also increases the importance of internal checks because the same screen may serve liabilities governed by different statutes.

Firms handling high volumes of tax payments should consider adding an explicit 'Act / period' field to payment checklists and maker-checker approvals. This can help prevent a payment intended for an older liability from being incorrectly tagged to a current-year workflow, or vice versa.

Useful official links

Income Tax e-Filing: Tax Payments

Key takeaway

The Income Tax e-Filing portal's integrated payment module now provides one interface for payments under both income-tax laws: the 1961 Act for dues up to FY 2025-26 and the Income Tax Act, 2025 for Tax Year 2026-27 onwards. Taxpayers and professionals should still verify the period and statutory basis of every liability before payment.