Forms 3CA, 3CB & 3CD Replaced by New Tax Audit Form 26: Income Tax Act 2025
Draft Form 26 under the Income Tax Act, 2025 is proposed to replace tax audit Forms 3CA, 3CB and 3CD with one single consolidated report.
The government has released a Draft Form 26 under the Income-tax Act, 2025. This new draft form is proposed to replace the current tax audit reporting forms 3CA, 3CB and 3CD.
As per the draft, Form 26 will become the main tax audit report and statement of particulars required to be filed under section 63 of the Income Tax Act, 2025.
One combined form
Earlier, tax audit reporting was done in different forms. Form 3CA was used where audit is done under other laws and Form 3CB was used where no other audit is required. Form 3CD was attached for detailed tax audit particulars.
Now, the new Draft Form 26 is designed as one combined form which will cover audit report as well as statement of details in one place. This may reduce confusion for taxpayers and auditors.
Two categories in the draft
Draft Form 26 has two main categories of assessees:
- A person carrying business or profession and required to get accounts audited under any other law
- A person carrying business or profession but not covered under other audit law
Depending on the category, different parts of the form will be filled.
More detailed reporting
The draft form contains many reporting points. It includes details like:
- turnover, gross profit and net profit
- books of accounts maintained and accounting software used
- cloud storage details and location of data
- income not credited to profit and loss account
- disallowable expenses and deductions
- depreciation and brought forward losses
- TDS and TCS details
- GST related details
- quantitative details for trading and manufacturing units
Accountants will sign the report
The draft also says the report must be signed by an accountant as per section 515(3)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
The draft form is more structured and may make reporting more standard. But they also feel it may increase the work because many new details are asked such as software and cloud reporting.
Since it is still a draft, the final format may change after feedback.
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