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Income Tax Refund Calculator for India: Old and New Regime

Estimate your 2025 or 2026 tax refund or bill: the US federal return, or the returns of Canada, Australia, India, Germany, Ireland, Finland and the Netherlands.

Reviewed by CentExactRates effective 4 sourcesCalculated in your browser. Shared links include inputs.

The rules for India

What the calculator above works from, read from the datasets listed under Data sources. Where a table gives the basis, “set by law” marks a figure fixed by statute or by the body that charges it, and a typical figure is a market convention the calculator opens on, which you can change.

How India settles a year's tax: the income tax return, 2026-27
RuleValueBasis
Law the return is worked underIncome-tax Act, 2025Set by law
New regime, the defaultSection 202 (formerly 115BAC)Set by law
Professional tax deductible in the old regime, section 19(1), item 1 (formerly 16(iii)), at most₹2,500Set by law
Own NPS contribution in the old regime, section 124(3) (formerly 80CCD(1B)), at most₹50,000Set by law
Health insurance for parents in the old regime, section 126 (formerly 80D), at most₹25,000Set by law
The same when a parent is a senior citizen₹50,000Set by law
Savings account interest in the old regime, section 153 (formerly 80TTA), at most₹10,000Set by law
Total income rounded to ten rupeesSection 516 (formerly 288A)Set by law
Tax rounded to ten rupeesSection 516 (formerly 288B)Set by law
The 2026-27 return on employment income alone, against what payroll withholds from it
LineWages of 7,50,000Wages of 15,00,000Wages of 30,00,000
Total income₹6,75,000₹14,25,000₹29,25,000
Tax₹13,750₹97,500₹4,75,800
Credits₹13,750₹0₹0
Tax after credits₹0₹97,500₹4,75,800
Paid and credited, payroll estimated₹0₹97,500₹4,75,800
Refund, or owed if negative₹0₹0₹0

India: the regime is chosen in the return, not on the payslip

An Indian salary arrives with tax already deducted. Your employer works out TDS each month on the salary it expects to pay you for the year, under the regime you told it about at the start of the year, and the bank deducts TDS from your deposit interest at a flat rate whatever your slab. The return, ITR-1 (Sahaj) for most salaried people or ITR-2 where there are larger capital gains or more than one house, settles the year: the tax your total income really bears against every rupee of TDS in Form 16 and Form 26AS.

Refunds come from three places. The bank's flat-rate TDS is often more than your slab asks for, and under the new regime it is refunded in full when the section 87A rebate clears your tax. Investments and rent you could not prove to your employer in time still count when you claim them in the return. And the regime itself can change: what you declared to your employer is for TDS only, so a salaried employee can choose the old regime in the return, for that year alone, if it is filed by the due date of 31 July. A return filed late can only use the new regime.

The new regime is the default, with a 75,000 rupee standard deduction and no tax on total income up to 12 lakh. Just above that, marginal relief cuts the tax to the income over 12 lakh. The old regime has narrower slabs and no such relief, but allows HRA, home-loan interest and the deductions for investments, NPS and health insurance. The calculator works your return under the regime you pick and shows the other beside it. Total income and the tax are each rounded to the nearest ten rupees.

From tax year 2026-27 the Income-tax Act 2025 applies. It renumbered every section and kept the amounts: section 80C is now section 123, 80D is section 126 and the rebate is section 156. The refund is paid after the Centralised Processing Centre processes the return, into a bank account pre-validated on the e-filing portal, once the return is e-verified.

Worked exampleWorked example: 15,00,000 rupees, TDS deducted under the new regime, return filed under the old

Your employer deducted 97,500, the new regime's tax on 14,25,000 after the standard deduction, plus cess.

In the return you choose the old regime. From 15,00,000 come the HRA exemption of 1,80,000, the 50,000 standard deduction, 2,500 of professional tax and 2,00,000 of home-loan interest, then 1,50,000 of investments, 50,000 to NPS and 25,000 of health insurance: total income

8,42,500.

Tax on the old slabs is 81,000, plus 3,240 of cess: 84,240.

Refund: 13,260. Under the new regime the same return gives no refund.

For how the calculation works, the formula behind it and what it leaves out, see the full guide. For help interpreting a result or comparing it with a quote or statement, read the questions and answers.

Data sources

India: income tax return of a salaried individual, both regimes, tax year 2026-27The Income-tax ActWithin its effective period
India: income tax under the new and old regimes, EPF and professional tax, FY 2026-27Income Tax DepartmentWithin its effective period
India: income tax return of a salaried individual, both regimes, FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27)Finance ActPast its effective period
India: income tax under the new and old regimes, EPF and professional tax, FY 2025-26Income Tax DepartmentPast its effective period

Every document each dataset was read from, its notes and how the figures were checked are listed in the guide's data sources.

This calculator in other countries

Where the rules change the answer, a place has its own page that runs the calculator on them and cites the official sources they came from.

CentExactCalculator publisher

CentExact publishes the calculation method, worked examples and available data sources. Automated checks cover reference calculations; they do not certify a result for your circumstances or imply approval by a lender or tax authority.

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 under Data sources on this page. Rates, fees and thresholds change; always confirm current values with the official source before relying on a result.