Section 23(2) under the
Income-tax Act, 2025
Nil annual value for self-occupied house property
Topic
Nil annual value for self-occupied house property — Deductions provisions under the Income-tax Act, 2025 (Act 30 of 2025).
What changed
SUBSTANTIVE RELAXATION worth flagging for anyone computing house property income. The 1961 s.23(2)(b) allowed nil annual value for an unoccupied property only where the owner could not occupy it 'owing to his employment, business or profession carried on at any other place'. s.21(6) drops that condition to 'cannot actually occupy it due to any reason'. The two-property limit (s.21(7)(a)) and the let-out/other-benefit disqualification (s.21(7)(b)) are unchanged. Included because it directly affects the 24(b) interest cap, which keys off s.21(6).
Source
Verified against bare text of s.21(6)-(7) in ICAI publication: annual value taken as nil 'if the owner occupies it for his own residence or cannot actually occupy it due to any reason', applying to two such houses.
CBDT publishes its own correspondence utility on incometaxindia.gov.in and that is the authority. Spot-check anything high-stakes there before you rely on it.
This is a navigational aid for the 1961 → 2025 transition, not tax advice. It helps you find the right place in the new Act when you already know the old section. Confirm every citation against the bare Act and against CBDT's own correspondence utility before relying on it in a return, certificate, notice reply or opinion. The source text used here is the Act as passed, so any rate or threshold amended by the Finance Act, 2026 is not reflected; section numbers are unaffected.