span >This year’s budget proved the phrase “expect the unexpected” from a personal tax perspective. There was much speculation until the budget day regarding reduction in slab rates and other sops for the salaried class. However, the Finance Minister came up with a simple, yet impactful set of proposals to please the common man. The existing tax rate of 10% for income range between ₹ 2.5 lakh and ₹ 5 lakh has been brought down to 5%, which has cheered many. _________________. Ironically, we may not know how much of such 80C deductions could be utilised by the low-income group taxpayers, but still the benefit stands, if the qualifying investments are made to avail the deduction under 80C of the act. Further, this budget also simplified the tax filing process as a one pager return for the salaried class up to a taxable income of ₹5 lakh without any business income.