Section mapper · Freelance and business income

Section 37 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is now section 34 of the Income-tax Act, 2025

The general rule for deducting a business expense.

Was
s.37, Income-tax Act, 1961 (repealed)
Is now
s.34(1), Income-tax Act, 2025
In force from

What changed

Renumbered, and given a name that says what it does. Section 34(1) is the residual deduction: any expenditure not covered by the specific sections, not capital, not personal, and laid out wholly and exclusively for the business, is allowed.

Where this comes from

Read from incometaxindia.gov.in on , and re-checked against the enacted Income-tax Act, 2025 (Act No. 30 of 2025, assented 21 August 2025, in force 1 April 2026). This dataset is re-verified quarterly. The whole method is on our methodology page.

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