If you sold any shares, mutual funds, property or gold in the last year, this is the ITR that trips people up. The rates changed, indexation mostly vanished, and a single wrong checkbox on the form can freeze your refund for months. The good news: for ITR 2026 it's actually simpler than last year — once you know which rate hits which asset, and the one property choice almost everyone misses.
The new rates, clean
AY 2026-27 (FY 2025-26) is the first full year under the post-23-July-2024 rules, so there's no messy “before vs after” date split to compute — the rates are flat for the whole year. Here's what applies to each asset:
| Asset | Long-term (LTCG) | Short-term (STCG) | Long-term after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listed equity & equity MF (STT paid) | 12.5% on gains above ₹1.25 lakh/yr | 20% | 12 months |
| Property (land / building) | 12.5% (no indexation) — or 20% with indexation if bought before 23 Jul 2024 | Slab rate | 24 months |
| Gold, unlisted & foreign shares | 12.5% (no indexation) | Slab rate | 24 months |
| Debt MF / MLDs (Sec 50AA) | No LTCG benefit | Slab rate (always) | — |
12.5%
The uniform long-term capital gains rate now applied across equity, property, gold and unlisted shares (with the ₹1.25 lakh equity exemption on top).
One trap worth flagging: debt mutual funds bought after April 2023 (and market-linked debentures) get no long-term benefit at all under Section 50AA — every rupee of gain is added to your income and taxed at your slab rate, however long you held them.
The property choice the quick answers skip
Ask Google “capital gains on property” and you'll often be told a flat 20% or a flat 12.5%. Both are incomplete. For a property held over 24 months, the default is now 12.5% without indexation. But if you bought it before 23 July 2024, the law lets you pick the lower of two options: 12.5% without indexation, or the old 20% with indexation (which inflates your purchase cost by the Cost Inflation Index, shrinking the taxable gain).
Which wins depends on how much the property appreciated. Bought a flat for ₹50 lakh and sold for ₹1.2 crore? The ₹70 lakh raw gain at 12.5% is ₹8.75 lakh — usually cheaper than 20% on an indexation-shrunk gain, because the price ran far ahead of inflation. But if that same flat sold for only ₹80 lakh, indexation pushes your cost up toward the sale price, the taxable gain collapses, and 20% with indexation wins. On a big-ticket asset the difference is lakhs — so compute both before you file.
On a property you've held for years, the right indexation choice isn't a rounding error — it's often a lakh or more of tax.
The right form — and reporting even tax-free gains
Capital gains push you out of the simple ITR-1. Report them in Schedule CG of ITR-2 if you have no business income, or ITR-3if you trade F&O or intraday (which counts as business income) or run a business. File the wrong one and the return can be marked defective under Section 139(9), stopping your refund until you refile. And don't skip the small stuff: even equity LTCG inside your ₹1.25 lakh exemption must still be reported.
What it means for you
Honest take: for most people with a handful of equity and mutual-fund sales, this is straightforward — net your gains, apply 12.5% LTCG above ₹1.25 lakh and 20% on short-term, file ITR-2, and reconcile with your broker statement. The place to slow down is property: that 12.5%-vs-20% choice on anything bought before July 2024 is where real money is won or lost, and it's the one thing a quick web answer won't do for your specific numbers.
So don't eyeball it. Run your sales through the capital gains calculator to get your exact LTCG and STCG, and if you haven't already, confirm you're on the right ITR form before you start — capital gains alone decide whether it's ITR-2 or ITR-3.
Rates, holding periods and the indexation option are for AY 2026-27 (FY 2025-26) under the Finance Act 2024 rules, before surcharge and cess. Property worked figures are illustrative — your exact indexed cost depends on the Cost Inflation Index for your years. Confirm your case on incometaxindia.gov.in or with a CA. General information, not tax advice.