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India: two regimes and two cliff edges

India lets you choose. The new regime is the default and gives wider slabs, a 75,000 rupee standard deduction and a larger section 87A rebate, but allows none of the old regime's deductions. The old regime has narrower slabs and a smaller standard deduction, but lets you claim HRA, section 80C, 80D and home-loan interest. Which wins depends entirely on what you claim, so the calculator models both.

Two cliff edges make Indian tax unusual, and both are softened by marginal relief rather than left as genuine cliffs. The section 87A rebate wipes out tax entirely up to a limit, and just above it relief caps your tax at the amount by which your income exceeds the limit, so crossing the line by 10,000 rupees costs you roughly 10,000 rupees and not the full slab tax. Surcharge works the same way at each of its thresholds. On top of everything sits a flat 4% health and education cess.

Worked example: 15,00,000 rupees, new regime, EPF on actual basic

Standard deduction 75,000, leaving 14,25,000 of taxable income. Slab tax plus the 4% cess: 97,500.

EPF at 12% of basic salary, taken as half of gross: 90,000 into your own provident fund. Your employer contributes the same again.

Take-home: 13,12,500 a year, 1,09,375 a month. Professional tax is a state levy of up to 2,500 a year, so pick your state if it charges one.

For how the calculation works, the formula behind it and what it leaves out, see the full guide.

Data sources

  • India: income tax under the new and old regimes, EPF and professional tax, FY 2026-27

    Effective 2026-04-01 to 2027-03-31 · retrieved 2026-08-29

    Financial year 2026-27 (assessment year 2027-28). The Union Budget 2026 left the slabs, cess, surcharge and the section 87A rebate unchanged from the Budget 2025 settings, so the same rates also apply to FY 2025-26. Salary is assumed to be the annual gross rather than CTC, which additionally contains the employer's own contributions. HRA exemption, perquisite valuation, employer contributions above the taxable threshold, and the ESI contribution-period continuation rule are not modelled. Professional tax is modelled only for the states whose Acts were verified; other states are treated as nil and say so.

    How we checked these figures

    Slabs, rebate, surcharge and cess are the published statutory figures. Vectors are computed from them and should be re-checked against the department's own calculator, which is linked above.

    Current

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Each country has its own rates, thresholds and rules, and its own page with the official sources they came from.

CentExact Editorial · Research & verification

Every CentExact calculator is built from the published finance formula, tested against spreadsheet, lender and tax-authority figures, and reviewed when the underlying rates or rules change.

How we build and test our calculators

Figures are estimates derived from published rates and rules, current at the review date shown at the top of this page and taken from the sources listed below. Rates, fees and thresholds change; always confirm current values with the official source before relying on a result.