A tax slab, expressed in Bengali as কর স্তর (kor stor), is a bracket in a tiered income tax system where each slice of your income is taxed at a progressively higher rate rather than the whole amount being taxed at one flat percentage. The literal meaning of tax slab in Bengali is “tax level” or “tax tier,” and both India and Bangladesh use this progressive slab structure to calculate what individuals owe each year.
What Kor Stor Actually Describes
কর স্তর translates directly to “tax level.” In everyday financial conversation, many Bengali speakers use the English loan phrase ট্যাক্স স্ল্যাব (tax slab) instead, since the term has become standard across India and Bangladesh. Both refer to the same idea: the government divides your total income into slices, and each slice carries its own rate.
Picture a staircase. The lowest step is free of tax, or nearly so. Each step up applies a steeper rate, but only to the income sitting on that step. Your earlier income keeps its lower rates as your total earnings rise. Someone earning ₹20,00,000 does not pay 25 percent on the whole amount. They pay nothing on the first slice, 5 percent on the next, 10 percent after that, and so on, reaching 25 percent only on the portion that lands in the top slab they touch.
This is why the highest slab rate you fall into is almost never your effective tax rate. The staircase design keeps the overall burden lower than a flat reading of the top rate would suggest.
India’s New Tax Regime Slabs for FY 2025-26
The New Tax Regime under Section 115BAC is the default for all individual taxpayers in India. If you file without actively choosing otherwise, these rates apply for Financial Year 2025-26 (Assessment Year 2026-27):
- Up to ₹4,00,000: no tax
- ₹4,00,001 to ₹8,00,000: 5 percent
- ₹8,00,001 to ₹12,00,000: 10 percent
- ₹12,00,001 to ₹16,00,000: 15 percent
- ₹16,00,001 to ₹20,00,000: 20 percent
- ₹20,00,001 to ₹24,00,000: 25 percent
- Above ₹24,00,000: 30 percent
These slabs apply uniformly regardless of age. A 25-year-old and a 70-year-old with the same taxable income pay the same rate.1Income Tax Department. Individual Having Income From Business/Profession for AY 2026-2027 The trade-off is that most popular deductions and exemptions are not available under this regime.
India’s Old Tax Regime Slabs
If you opt out of the default, you can still file under the old system. It has fewer, wider slabs, but it lets you claim deductions that can meaningfully reduce your taxable income. Age matters here.
Individuals Below 60 Years
- Up to ₹2,50,000: no tax
- ₹2,50,001 to ₹5,00,000: 5 percent
- ₹5,00,001 to ₹10,00,000: 20 percent
- Above ₹10,00,000: 30 percent
Senior Citizens (60 to 79 Years)
- Up to ₹3,00,000: no tax
- ₹3,00,001 to ₹5,00,000: 5 percent
- ₹5,00,001 to ₹10,00,000: 20 percent
- Above ₹10,00,000: 30 percent
Super Senior Citizens (80 Years and Above)
- Up to ₹5,00,000: no tax
- ₹5,00,001 to ₹10,00,000: 20 percent
- Above ₹10,00,000: 30 percent
A super senior citizen pays nothing on the first ₹5,00,000, compared with ₹2,50,000 for someone under 60.2Income Tax Department. Salaried Individuals for AY 2026-27
The old regime tends to work out better when your deductions are large enough to pull your taxable income well down. Someone with a home loan, meaningful 80C investments, and health insurance premiums may save more this way. With few deductions, the new regime’s wider slabs usually win. The only reliable method is to calculate under both and compare.3Income Tax Department. FAQs on New Tax vs Old Tax Regime
Why Most People Earning Up to ₹12 Lakh Pay Nothing
The slab rates by themselves do not tell the full story. Under the new regime, a rebate under Section 87A wipes out your entire tax liability if your total income is at or below ₹12,00,000. The rebate is ₹60,000, which exactly matches the tax that would otherwise be calculated on ₹12,00,000 under the new slabs. So you owe zero.
Salaried individuals get more room. A standard deduction of ₹75,000 comes off your gross salary before the slab calculation even begins. Combined with the rebate, a salaried person earning up to ₹12,75,000 in gross salary pays no income tax at all under the new regime. This is where many first-time filers get confused. They see the 5 percent rate kicking in at ₹4,00,001 and assume they owe tax, without realizing the rebate cancels it out entirely for lower incomes.
A Worked Example
Say your total taxable income for FY 2025-26 is ₹14,00,000 and you are filing under the new regime. The slab system produces your tax like this:
- First ₹4,00,000 at 0 percent = ₹0
- Next ₹4,00,000 (₹4,00,001 to ₹8,00,000) at 5 percent = ₹20,000
- Next ₹4,00,000 (₹8,00,001 to ₹12,00,000) at 10 percent = ₹40,000
- Remaining ₹2,00,000 (₹12,00,001 to ₹14,00,000) at 15 percent = ₹30,000
Basic tax comes to ₹90,000. Because your income exceeds ₹12,00,000, the Section 87A rebate does not apply. Add the 4 percent Health and Education Cess (₹3,600) and the total liability is ₹93,600.1Income Tax Department. Individual Having Income From Business/Profession for AY 2026-2027
Even though part of the income sits in the 15 percent slab, the effective rate on ₹14,00,000 works out to roughly 6.7 percent. That gap between the top slab you touch and what you actually pay is the whole point of the staircase.
Bangladesh Income Tax Slabs
Bengali speakers in Bangladesh follow a different structure set by the National Board of Revenue. For the current tax year, individual residents face these rates:
- First BDT 3,75,000: no tax
- Next BDT 3,00,000: 10 percent
- Next BDT 4,00,000: 15 percent
- Next BDT 5,00,000: 20 percent
- Next BDT 20,00,000: 25 percent
- Any remaining income: 30 percent
Women and senior citizens aged 65 or older get a higher exemption of BDT 4,25,000 on the first tier. Persons with disabilities get BDT 5,00,000. Non-resident individuals who are not Bangladeshi citizens are taxed at a flat 30 percent on all Bangladesh-sourced income, with no slab benefit.
Common Bengali Tax Terms
When you read tax notices or financial documents in Bengali, these terms come up repeatedly:
- করদাতা (korodata): taxpayer
- করযোগ্য আয় (korjogyo aay): taxable income
- করমুক্ত আয়ের সীমা (kormukto aayer seema): tax-free income limit
- কর রেয়াত (kor reyat): tax rebate
- উৎসে কর কর্তন (utshey kor korton): Tax Deducted at Source (TDS)
- সারচার্জ (surcharge): surcharge
- করবর্ষ (korborshho): tax year
- কর নির্ধারণ (kor nirdhaaron): tax assessment
Knowing this vocabulary makes it easier to read official correspondence from either India’s Income Tax Department or Bangladesh’s NBR, both of which issue guidance in Bengali alongside English.