Joint income tax return? This Rajya Sabha MP has a fix for couples paying higher taxes

Rajya Sabha member, Aam Admi Party (AAP) spokesperson and Chartered Accountant Raghav Chadha, on 16 March, proposed joint filing of income tax returns for married couples. Speaking in Parliament on Monday, the AAP leader said that his proposal seeks to even out the burden on families with uneven incomes and get the same benefits as two similarly earning spouses.

“In Parliament today I proposed optional Joint filing of Income Tax Returns for married couples,” Chadha wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

What has Raghav Chadha proposed for family taxes?

He explained that under the current system, in a family where both spouses earn ₹10 lakh each, and the total household income is ₹20 lakh, the tax paid is zero. This is because each individual pays taxes separately and the combined income is not taken into consideration.

However, Chadha further explained that in a family where one spouse earns ₹20 lakh, and the other stays home to raise their child, the family pays ₹1.92 lakh in taxes for the same income as the first family. At present, India has no provision for joint income tax return (ITR) filings.

“The only difference is how the salary is split between the two spouses. One roof. One kitchen. One household budget. But when tax time comes, the family disappears. The tax system sees two individuals. A husband and wife become strangers. No clubbing of income or rebates,” he added.

To this end, Chadha added, “In Parliament today I proposed optional joint filing of Income Tax Returns for married couples, so families with uneven incomes are not unfairly penalised. If implemented, then Family A and Family B both will pay Zero Tax.”

Is joint ITR a viable option? What do experts say?

Notably, joint income taxation for married couples is already in practice in multiple developed economies, including France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. Chadha's proposal seeks to improve equity for single-earner households and provide similar benefits to dual-income families.

There was also a high expectation that Budget 2026 would have some provision to this effect for married couples in India. CA Suresh Surana told Mint that the introduction of joint income-tax filing for married couples is gaining attention as a reform with strong potential.

Surana noted that while households comprising multiple earning members are able to independently avail and fully utilise exemption thresholds, families sustained by a sole or principal earning spouse often experience a mismatch between exemptions and the fiscal realities of household cost-of-living obligations.

“In order to mitigate this structural inequity, it is expected that an optional joint taxation mechanism for married couples may be contemplated, whereby spouses could elect to file a consolidated return of income. Such a framework could provide for a higher, family-level basic exemption limit, thereby effectively aggregating individual thresholds and affording proportionate relief to single-income households. This approach would factor the economic interdependence inherent in marital households and align the tax base more closely with actual household consumption and financial obligations,” he added.

He further noted that several developed tax jurisdictions already have the provision, and adoption of a similar taxation structure in India “would represent a convergence with international best practices and support long-term household financial stability”.

Writing for Tax Guru, CA Dilip Satbhai also noted that the provision for the optional choice of joint ITR has been recommended by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.