Capital Gains Exemption Clauses Under Income-tax Act 2025: Old-to-New Mapping
Reviewed by Ravi Sisodia · Last reviewed 13 August 2026
Finin2min 2-Minute Summary
- The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from 1 April 2026, while earlier tax years remain under the 1961 Act through repeal-and-savings rules.
- The Department's navigator maps old section 54 to section 82; 54B to 83; 54D to 84; 54EC to 85; 54F to 86; 54G to 87; 54GA to 88; and 54H to 89.
- Old section 54GB is shown as omitted in the Department's navigator rather than assigned a new section number.
- Do not treat the mapping as proof of eligibility. Each current section retains asset, assessee, reinvestment, time-limit, lock-in/withdrawal and Capital Gains Account Scheme conditions that must be checked in the current Act.
- Return software, CGAS workpapers and tax-advice templates should cite the current section for Tax Year 2026-27 while retaining the old number only as a cross-reference.
The transition is a section map plus a condition recheck
Practitioners know the old 54-series by memory, but Tax Year 2026-27 computations need the current statutory numbers. The official navigator provides the correspondence. That is the starting map, not the entire analysis.
A house reinvestment under old section 54 maps to section 82; agricultural-land relief under 54B maps to 83; compulsory-acquisition relief under 54D maps to 84; specified-bond relief under 54EC maps to 85; residential-house reinvestment under 54F maps to 86; industrial-shifting reliefs map to 87/88; and old 54H timing extension maps to 89.
Preserve the dates that control exemption
Every exemption file should record transfer date, nature/holding of original asset, new-asset purchase/construction date, CGAS deposit date where relevant, amount invested, statutory cap and later transfer/withdrawal restrictions. A section-number conversion cannot cure a missed investment date or an ineligible asset.
For pre-1-April-2026 transfers, determine the governing old-Act position under the transition rules rather than mechanically applying the new section because the return is filed later.
Worked example: house sale in July 2026
An individual sells a qualifying long-term residential house in July 2026 and buys another residential house within the permitted period. The file should begin under section 82, not old section 54. If the taxpayer's facts instead involve sale of another long-term capital asset followed by residential-house reinvestment, section 86 is the relevant successor to old section 54F. The difference matters because the exemption base and conditions are not identical.
Capital-gains exemption file
- Confirm tax year and governing Act.
- Map old familiar section to current section 82-89 where applicable.
- Record original asset, assessee eligibility and holding facts.
- Track purchase/construction/bond investment/CGAS dates.
- Apply current caps and withdrawal/lock-in conditions.
- Keep old section number only as a reconciliation aid, not the operative legal citation.
Questions readers commonly ask
What is the new section for old section 54?
The Department's navigator maps it to section 82.
What replaces section 54F?
Section 86.
What happened to old section 54GB?
The official navigator shows it as omitted rather than mapped to a current successor section.
Do old sections still matter for FY 2025-26 disposals?
Yes. Earlier tax years remain governed by the old Act through the transition/savings framework.
Official / primary sources
- Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by Finance Act, 2026 - Current enacted text
- Income Tax Department old-to-new navigator - 54-series mapping: 82-89 and omitted provisions
- Income Tax Department transition FAQs - Prospective application from 1 April 2026
Disclaimer
Educational and professional reference only; confirm the current law, rates and the facts of your case before relying on this page.