Form 10-IEA – Continuing Old Regime

Your CA is correct that Form 10-IEA must be filed for AY 2026–27 to opt out of the default New Regime. Filing Form 10-IEA to remain in the Old Regime does not count as your one-time switch; it merely maintains your current choice. Your single lifetime switch is reserved for when you eventually choose to exit the Old Regime and move back into the New Tax Regime in a future year.

Filing Form 10-IEA each year to CONTINUE old regime does not consume your one-time switch option. That restriction applies only when you decide to move from old to new.

Here is the distinction:

Form 10-IEA is the annual opt-out declaration. Business income taxpayers must file it every year to stay in old regime, since new regime is the default from FY 2024-25 onwards. Filing it this year is just routine compliance, not a switch.

The ONE-TIME restriction kicks in only when you decide to permanently move from old regime to new regime. Once you exercise that, you cannot go back to old regime as long as you have business income.

So your plan works exactly as intended: file 10-IEA this year to continue old regime, and preserve your one-time option to move to new regime in a future year.

Two things to keep in mind:
- File Form 10-IEA BEFORE the ITR due date (31 August for non-audit business income). If you miss it, you lose old regime for that year even without exercising the one-time switch.
- If you have salary plus business income, ITR-3 governs and the 10-IEA rule applies.

This [Form 10-IEA and tax regime switching guide for AY 2026-27](https://taxgarden.in/blog/how-to-switch-old-new-tax-regime-form-10-iea-itr-ay-2026-27) covers the step-by-step and the one-time switch conditions in detail.