Checked 29 September 2026. From Annexure-I of the Departmental Examination Rules 2026 for Income Tax Inspectors, checked against the Gazette text of the Income-tax Act 2025 and the India Code text of the 1961 Act. A syllabus revision for 2027 would override it.
The Income Tax Inspector (ITI) departmental exam is sat by directly recruited Inspectors, who need it to be confirmed, and by Office Superintendents, Tax Assistants and Stenographers who have passed the Ministerial Staff exam and want promotion. Under the Departmental Examination Rules 2026 it is five papers of 100 marks, and its income-tax paper now covers two Acts at once: the Income-tax Act 1961 and the Income-tax Act 2025, which came into force on 1 April 2026. The rules print a chapter map between the two. This guide reproduces that map, checks it against both Acts, adds a finder for the sections an Inspector uses most, sets out what changed in Allied Laws and Hindi, and ends with a checker for the Hindi exemption.
Where other pages get this wrong
Both Acts are in the Inspector syllabus. The compendium hosted on a regional site says the 2025 Act is "NOT in force for this examination"; the rules list both, and from the 2027 sitting onward the 2025 Act is the law for every new tax year.
Commonly published instead: A study compendium for the 2026 exam, hosted on the Hyderabad region's website, which states that "the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended) applies throughout".
Annexure-I of the ITI rules names the Income-tax Act 1961 and the Income-tax Act 2025 for Paper-I. Section 1(3) of the 2025 Act brings it into force on 1 April 2026, and section 536(2)(c) keeps the 1961 Act for proceedings about tax years that began before that date. The compendium calls itself a study aid, "not a statutory or officially issued publication". For a 2026 paper set on assessment year 2026-27 law it may be a fair description of what was tested; it is not what the syllabus says, and it will age quickly.
Income-tax Act 2025, section 1(3) and the table of contents (Gazette); ITI rules 2026, Rule VI(1) and Annexure-I (official).
The five Inspector papers
| Paper | Type and time | Books | Split printed in the rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| I Income Tax Law, Computation and Taxpayer Services | Objective, 2 h | Bare Acts and Rules only (paper table); Rule VI(1)(f) also mentions a ready reckoner | 90 income-tax, 10 other direct-tax Acts (Black Money 2015, Benami Amendment 2016) |
| II Accountancy and Book-Keeping | Objective, 2 h | None | 35% weightage to practical-application MCQs |
| III Allied Laws and Office Procedure | Objective, 2 h | Bare Acts and FR, SR, GFR | 60 Allied Laws, 40 Office Procedure |
| IV IT Applications and Operations | Objective, 2 h | None | Not split |
| V Rajbhasha Hindi | Subjective, 2 h | None | Five parts of 20 marks |
Each paper needs 50% (45% for SC, ST and PwBD candidates), with no aggregate, and every wrong objective answer costs a quarter of a mark. The 2026 sitting is scheduled to run Paper-I to Paper-V on 5 to 9 October 2026 in the afternoon session, 14:30 to 16:30, except Paper-IV on 8 October, set for 15:00 to 17:00 (notification Annex-I, official).
Paper-I: what the rules emphasise
The Inspector syllabus is the same two Acts as the officer syllabus, but it points at Inspector work. It names heads of income, assessment, computation and TDS and TCS, and then the jobs an Inspector is actually sent to do: enquiries and surveys, tax evasion petitions, prosecutions, investigations and information from the Central Information Branch. Taxpayer services are listed as for the officer exam: the Taxpayers' Charter, TRACES, Form 26AS, e-PAN, prefilled returns, Aaykar Sampark Kendra, SEVOTTAM, CPGRAM and e-Nivaran.
The chapter map the rules print
The ITI rules print the table below to show where each subject sits in each Act. We checked every row against the chapter titles in the Gazette text of the 2025 Act and the India Code text of the 1961 Act.
| Subject | 2025 Act chapter | 1961 Act chapter (as printed in the rules) | Our check against the Acts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary (definitions) | I | I | 2025: Chapter I "Preliminary". 1961: as printed |
| Basis of charge | II | II | 2025: Chapter II "Basis of Charge". 1961: as printed |
| Computation of total income | IV | IV | Both titles confirmed |
| Aggregation of income | VI | VI | Confirmed. The 1961 Chapter VI is "Aggregation of income and set off or carry forward of loss" |
| Set off, or carry forward and set off of losses | VII | VI | Confirmed. The 1961 Act keeps both subjects in one chapter; the 2025 Act splits them |
| Deductions in computing total income | VIII | VI-A | Confirmed |
| Tax administration (income-tax authorities) | XIV | XIII | Confirmed. 1961 title: "Income-tax authorities" |
| Procedure for assessment | XVI | XIV | Confirmed |
| Collection and recovery of tax | XIX | XVII | Confirmed |
| Penalties | XXI | XXI | Confirmed. 1961 title: "Penalties imposable" |
| Offences and prosecution | XXII | XXII | Confirmed |
A note for anyone who read the map and thought it had a misprint: the 1961 column shows Chapter VI twice, once for aggregation and once for set-off. That is correct. Chapter V of the 1961 Act is "Income of other persons, included in assessee's total income" (clubbing), and Chapter VI covers both aggregation and losses. The 2025 Act keeps clubbing in Chapter V and gives aggregation (VI) and losses (VII) a chapter each. The map is right; we checked, because an earlier reading of it on our side assumed a typo.
Section finder: the provisions an Inspector uses most
The rules give chapters, not sections. The finder below is ours: it pairs the section in the 2025 Act with the provision it replaces in the 1961 Act for the work the syllabus names. Every number was read from the text of the Acts. Paper-I allows Bare Acts, so the value of this table is speed on the day, not memory.
| Subject | 2025 Act | 1961 Act |
|---|---|---|
| Tax year / previous year | s.3 "tax year" (the financial year from 1 April) | s.3 "previous year" |
| Residence in India | s.6 | s.6 |
| Heads of income | s.13 | s.14 |
| Capital gains (charge) | s.67 | s.45 |
| Unexplained credits / cash credits | s.102 | s.68 |
| Unexplained investments | s.103 | s.69 |
| Set off of loss under the same head | s.108 | s.70 |
| Deductions (general) | s.122 | s.80A |
| Classes of income-tax authorities | s.236 | s.116 |
| Search and seizure | s.247 | s.132 |
| Power of survey | s.253 | s.133A |
| Permanent account number | s.262 | s.139A |
| Income escaping assessment | s.279 | s.147 |
| Notice where income has escaped assessment | s.280 | s.148 |
| Rectification of mistakes | s.287 | s.154 |
| Revision of orders prejudicial to revenue | s.377 | s.263 |
| Revision of other orders | s.378 | s.264 |
| Tax deducted or collected at source | s.390 onwards | s.190 onwards |
| Refunds | s.431 onwards | s.237 onwards |
| Penalty for under-reporting and misreporting | s.439 | s.270A |
| Offences and prosecution (chapter start) | s.473 | Chapter XXII |
A section pairing tells you where to look, not that the two provisions say the same thing. Where the wording changed, the question will turn on the new wording, so read both texts for anything you expect to be tested.
Why both Acts stay live
Section 536(1) of the 2025 Act repeals the 1961 Act. Section 536(2)(c) then saves it: the 1961 Act continues to apply to proceedings pending on 1 April 2026, and to proceedings started after that date, for any tax year beginning before 1 April 2026. The Press Information Bureau release of 1 April 2026 confirms the commencement and adds that the Income-tax Rules 2026 were notified by CBDT on 20 March 2026. In practice, an Inspector in 2027 will still be sent on enquiries about returns filed under the old Act while new-year work runs under the new one. That is why the syllabus lists both, and why ITO Paper-I describes the 1961 Act as applicable "till its applicability".
Paper-II: Accountancy and Book-Keeping
Fundamentals and double entry; journal and ledger; subsidiary books; bank and bill transactions; bank reconciliation statements; capital and revenue items; receipts and payments and income and expenditure accounts; trial balance and rectification of errors; final accounts; depreciation; partnership, company and LLP accounts; and seven accounting standards: AS-1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 22 and 29. The rules give "35% weightage" to MCQs based on practical application, requiring analytical reasoning and computational understanding; that is a share of marks, not a count of questions. The ITO exam adds five more standards (AS-11, 12, 13, 16 and 19), so an Inspector who plans to go on to the officer exam loses nothing by learning them now.
Paper-III: what the Inspector Allied Laws list drops and adds
Allied Laws is 60 marks for Inspectors and 50 for officers, and the two lists are not the same. The comparison below is ours, read from the two Annexures.
| Law | ITI Paper-III | ITO Paper-III |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer of Property Act 1882 (named sections) | Yes | Yes |
| Companies Act 2013 (named sections) | Yes | Yes |
| Code of Civil Procedure 1908 (named orders) | Yes | Yes |
| Right to Information Act 2005, ss.2-4 and 6-11 | Yes | Yes |
| Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 | Yes, listed with no chapter limit | Chapters I to V and XI only |
| Registration Act 1908, ss.16-18, 40-47 and 60 | Yes | No |
| Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 | Yes | No |
| Indian Contract Act 1872, Chapters I-VI | No | Yes |
| Hindu Succession Act 1956 | No | Yes |
| Indian Partnership Act 1932, Chapters I-VI | No | Yes |
| Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008 | No | Yes |
The Inspector additions fit the job. Registration of documents and the law of evidence are what an Inspector meets on a survey or an enquiry about a property deal. The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam also appears in the IT Applications paper, through the certificate under section 63(4)(c) for electronic records.
Office Procedure (40 marks) covers the same eleven items as the officer exam's Office Administration: FR and SR, the CCS (CCA), Conduct, Leave and Pension (2021) Rules, the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules 2024, GFR 2017, the Manual of Office Procedure, the POSH Act, the RPwD Act, and public procurement through GeM.
Paper-V: Rajbhasha Hindi
| Part | Task | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Translation from Hindi to English | 20 |
| 2 | Translation from English to Hindi | 20 |
| 3 | Comprehension of an official passage | 20 |
| 4 | Official terminology and usage | 20 |
| 5 | Brief official writing | 20 |
Under the 2009 rules the Hindi paper was 50 marks and an hour; it is now 100 marks and two hours, handwritten in a booklet. The ITI rules give no recounting route for it, unlike the officer exam's subjective paper; that is an absence we noticed, not a rule.
The paper can be passed at any time, at 50% (45% for SC, ST and PwBD), and the pass is entered in the service record (Rule VII(5)). Rule VI(1)(d) then deals with exemption in two different voices: candidates who passed Hindi at matriculation (or an equivalent or higher exam) or in the Ministerial Staff exam "will be exempt", while those who passed Pragya "may also be exempt", subject to verification and certification by the In-charge of Examination.
Do you need to sit the Hindi paper?
Hindi exemption checker (ITI exam)
Answer three questions. The checker applies Rule VI(1)(d) and Rule VII(5) of the ITI rules 2026. Your In-charge of Examination verifies the claim; this is a guide, not a decision.
Our reading of the ITI rules 2026, Rules VI(1)(d) and VII(5).
For readers without JavaScript, the checker follows this table.
| If you have passed | Paper-V | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hindi at matriculation, or an equivalent or higher exam | "Will be exempt" | ITI rules 2026, Rule VI(1)(d) (official) |
| The Ministerial Staff departmental exam | "Will be exempt" | Rule VI(1)(d) (official) |
| Pragya of the Central Hindi Teaching Institute or Hindi Teaching Scheme | "May also be exempt", subject to verification and certification by the In-charge of Examination | Rule VI(1)(d) (official) |
| None of these | Sit it; 50 marks (45 for SC, ST, PwBD) to pass, at any sitting | Rule VII(5) (official) |
Paper-IV: IT Applications and Operations
The Inspector version covers ITBA modules (portal, ITR processing, rectification, recovery, audit, faceless appeal, OGE, penalty, e-Nivaran, PAN and TAN functions, TDS, MIS reports), the assessment module, HRMS in ITBA, the Insight portal (e-verification and third-party reporting) and digital forensics, including the section 63(4)(c) certificate, chain of custody and panchnama. It leaves out the officer-only items: the ITD Information Security Policy 2020 and the scrutiny, TPO and set-aside parts of the assessment module. Every old-pattern partial must pass this paper, so it is the one to start with if you carry papers over from the 2009 rules.
A study order that follows the syllabus
Our suggested order for the next sitting
- Start with Paper-IV if you are an old-pattern partial: you owe it whatever else you passed.
- Learn the chapter map above until you can place any subject in either Act without looking.
- Paper-I: work Inspector topics (survey, enquiries, TEPs, CIB information) in both Acts, using the section finder.
- Paper-III: the Registration Act sections and the Sakshya Adhiniyam are new for most readers; do them before the familiar Office Procedure items.
- Paper-II: seven standards and practical book-keeping; 35% weightage goes to practical-application MCQs that need analytical reasoning and computation.
- Hindi: check the exemption first. If you sit it, practise both directions of translation on real office letters.
This order is ours, not the Directorate's.
Is the Income-tax Act 2025 in the ITI departmental exam syllabus?
Yes. Annexure-I of the ITI rules 2026 names both the Income-tax Act 1961 and the Income-tax Act 2025 for Paper-I, and prints a chapter map between them.
When did the Income-tax Act 2025 come into force?
On 1 April 2026, under section 1(3) of the Act. A PIB release of the same date confirms it.
Why is the 1961 Act still examined?
Section 536(2)(c) of the 2025 Act keeps the 1961 Act for proceedings, pending or started later, that relate to tax years beginning before 1 April 2026.
Is the chapter map in the ITI rules correct?
Yes, on our check against both Acts. The 1961 Act puts aggregation and set-off of losses in the same Chapter VI, which is why that number appears twice in the 1961 column.
What is the ITI Paper-III split?
60 marks of Allied Laws and 40 marks of Office Procedure.
Which laws are new in the ITI Allied Laws paper?
Compared with the officer syllabus, the Inspector list adds the Registration Act 1908 (sections 16-18, 40-47 and 60) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, and leaves out the Contract, Hindu Succession, Partnership and LLP Acts.
Who is exempt from the Rajbhasha Hindi paper?
Candidates who passed Hindi at matriculation or an equivalent or higher exam, or who passed the Ministerial Staff exam, "will be exempt". Candidates who passed Pragya "may also be exempt", subject to verification and certification by the In-charge of Examination (Rule VI(1)(d)).
How many marks is the ITI Hindi paper now?
100 marks in two hours, in five parts of 20, answered in writing. Under the 2009 rules it was 50 marks in one hour.
Which accounting standards are in ITI Paper-II?
Seven: AS-1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 22 and 29.
Can I use the Bare Act in the ITI exam?
Only in Paper-I and Paper-III. Rule VI(1)(f) allows Bare Acts, Rules or a basic ready reckoner of tax tables, depreciation rates and the capital gains index, but the paper table and the 2026 timetable label Paper-I "Bare Acts and Rules Only". Follow any instruction issued for your sitting or centre before carrying a ready reckoner. Papers II, IV and V are without books.
Sources
- official — CBDT / DGIT(HRD) — Departmental Examination Rules for Income Tax Inspectors, 2026
- official — CBDT / DGIT(HRD) — Departmental Examination Rules for Income Tax Officers, 2026
- official — DGIT(HRD) — Notification for Departmental Examinations 2026, F.No. DE/Notification/ITO/ITI/MS/2026/ADG/54 dated 05.06.2026 (with Annex-I and Annex-II timetables)
- official — The Income-tax Act, 2025 (No. 30 of 2025), Gazette of India
- official — The Income-tax Act, 1961 — India Code PDF (read from an archived copy)
- official — PIB, Ministry of Finance, 01.04.2026 — Income-tax Act, 2025 comes into force from today
- reported — Compendium: IT Applications and Operations, Departmental Examination 2026 (hosted on the Hyderabad region site; it describes itself as a study aid, not an official publication)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
