80C, 80D and 80CCD Tax Saving Calculator

Deductions are the main reason some people choose the old tax regime. They are also the part that people leave half used, because the limits are spread across several sections and it is hard to see what is left. This page lists each bucket, shows how much of it you have used and what is still open, and converts the open room into the tax it could save at your slab rate. It only matters for the old regime; the new regime allows none of these.

The four buckets

Section 80C allows up to 1,50,000 for your own EPF contribution, PPF, NSC and five-year tax-saving deposits, ELSS funds, life insurance premiums, children’s tuition fees and the principal in a home loan repayment. Section 80CCD(1B) adds up to 50,000 for your own NPS contribution on top. Section 80D covers health insurance: up to 25,000 for you and your family and the same again for your parents, with each cap rising to 50,000 for a senior citizen. The page has one box for each source and two toggles for age.

How the saving is computed

A deduction saves tax at your highest slab rate, plus cess. With a 30 percent rate the multiplier is 0.30 × 1.04 = 0.312, so every 1,000 of deduction saves 312. The page applies the rate you enter to every bucket, which is right when your income stays inside that slab after the deductions. If the deductions pull some of your income into a lower slab, the real saving is a little smaller.

A worked example

The default is a salaried person at the 30 percent rate with 72,000 of EPF, 18,000 of life insurance and 15,000 of health insurance for the family, and parents who are senior citizens with no premium yet. The deductions in use come to 1,05,000 (90,000 under 80C and 15,000 under 80D), and they save 32,760. Still open: 60,000 under 80C, the full 50,000 under 80CCD(1B), 10,000 more under 80D for the family and 50,000 under 80D for the parents. That is 1,70,000 of room, worth another 53,040. In the maxed-out sample, with 60,000 more in PPF, 50,000 of NPS and full 80D premiums, the deductions are 2,75,000 and the tax saved is 85,800.

Locking and liquidity

The notes under the result remind you that these products lock the money in. A PPF account runs for 15 years, a tax-saving deposit for 5, and ELSS funds carry a lock-in of 3 years. Filling the limit with whatever is available by 31 March is a common mistake. Look at the PPF Calculator, the NPS Pension Calculator and the EPF Calculator to see what each commitment is worth.

Is the old regime still better for you?

This page tells you what the deductions save, not whether the old regime wins. For that, enter the same numbers in the Income Tax Calculator, which computes both regimes. Because the new regime has lower slab rates and a large rebate, even 2,75,000 of deductions does not always make the old regime cheaper, especially for incomes up to around 15 lakh.

Edge cases

An entry above a limit is trimmed, and the page lists the trimmed amount as not counted. Putting a rate of 0 shows the room but a saving of zero. The 80D toggles default to a senior-citizen parent, so switch the parent toggle off if your parents are under 60. Premiums and contributions must be paid in the financial year, a rule the page cannot check.

Limits

Employer NPS under 80CCD(2), home loan interest under section 24, interest on education loans, donations and the old-regime HRA exemption are not in these four buckets. Preventive health check-up sub-limits inside 80D are not modelled. Limits and eligibility can change in each Budget, and the page states that you should check the department’s current rules.

Related tools

• Income Tax Calculator decides whether claiming these deductions beats the new regime.
• HRA Calculator finds the rent exemption that goes with the old regime.
• SSY Calculator projects an account for a daughter that also counts under 80C.
• NSC and KVP Calculator values the certificate that fits the 80C group.