Salary allowance · India

HRA Calculator

Estimate the exempt and taxable portions of your House Rent Allowance using rent, qualifying salary and the city where you live.

Calculate HRA exemption

Your HRA worksheet

Enter monthly salary, HRA and rent by period

Use monthly amounts. Add a separate period when salary, HRA, rent or the rented-home city changes.

Income period

Tax regime applied

The old regime is preselected to demonstrate HRA exemption. This is not a regime recommendation or election.

2026–27: Rule 279 applies. The city limit is selected from the notified eight-city list.

Whole months only, within April–March. To split an annual period, shorten its month count first. A new period starts at the first available month and copies the preceding amounts; review them for changes. Include non-rented months with rent ₹0 if HRA was received.

For periods with rent entered, I occupied a rented home that I do not own and actually paid this rent.

Unchecking this sets exemption to zero. This tool estimates amounts; it does not verify your claim or documents.

Model limits: up to 12 non-overlapping periods and 12 entered months. Each monthly amount field supports ₹0–₹10 crore, with two decimals. Qualifying salary must be positive. Mid-month changes and final tax-return rounding are outside this worksheet.

Allowance breakdown

Your HRA exemption estimate

An illustrative example is loaded. Calculate to see its result.

Your allowance breakdown will appear here

Choose the income period and regime, then enter amounts for the months covered by each period.

Choose the year before choosing a city.
Use qualifying salary, not CTC or total gross pay.
Read all three limits in the worksheet below.

Exemption is only one part of your tax calculation

The result separates exempt HRA from HRA remaining taxable. It does not calculate your total tax or verify a rent claim.

This calculates HRA exemption only. Actual tax depends on total income, applicable rates, rebates, deductions and the regime selected.

Rent entered: ₹0

How the monthly limits compare

Each month uses its own salary and rent. Amounts are displayed to two decimal places; totals use unrounded calculations.

Monthly HRA worksheet
Month / city	Actual HRA	Rent less 10% salary	City salary limit	Exempt	Taxable

Unentered months are excluded, not treated as an automatic annual projection.

Exports are calculation worksheets, not rent receipts, government forms or filed returns.

Built and maintained by Bhavin ShethLast modified: Oct 15, 2026

Government rule check

Select the year before the city

A city label without a tax year can produce the wrong salary limit.

Notified change from 1 April 2026

CBDT notified the Income-tax Rules, 2026 on 20 March 2026, effective 1 April 2026. Rule 279 adds Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad to the 50% city list.

Read the government notification — Rule 279 (PDF, pages 244–245)

City limits used by this calculator
Income period	50% salary limit cities	Other locations	Legal reference
FY 2025–26 / AY 2026–27	Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai	40%	Section 10(13A), Rule 2A
Tax Year 2026–27	The four cities above, plus Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad	40%	Section 11, Schedule III (item 11), Rule 279

Use the rented home's location, not your employer's office. A 50% salary limit does not mean 50% of HRA is automatically exempt. Review date: 15 October 2026. The page does not fetch future rule changes automatically.

The calculation

Three limits. One exempt amount.

Under the old regime, the smallest eligible amount determines the exemption.

Exempt HRA = max(0, min(actual HRA, rent paid − 10% of qualifying salary, 40% or 50% of qualifying salary))
Taxable HRA = HRA received − exempt HRA

Build the salary base

Enter basic pay, eligible DA and commission fixed as a percentage of turnover under the employment contract. Include DA only where it qualifies under your employment terms; for FY 2025–26, the departmental guide specifies DA forming part of retirement benefits. Exclude unrelated allowances and perquisites.

Departmental salary guidance

Keep the months and amounts together

The lowest eligible limit is applied separately to each entered month. A change in salary, rent, HRA or rented-home city needs its own period; averaging changed amounts across the full year can give a different answer.

Unentered months are excluded. Add rent ₹0 for a month in which you received HRA but paid no rent, so that its taxable allowance remains in the worksheet.

New regime result

HRA exemption is unavailable under the new regime. This mode returns zero exemption and shows the entire entered HRA as taxable; it does not compare total tax between regimes.

Section 202(2)(a)(i), Income-tax Act, 2025

Changed amounts are calculated separately. The worksheet supports whole-month scenarios; a mid-month change needs a separately reconciled payroll calculation.

Four worked examples

Try a steady year, a city rule change and a split period

Illustrative monthly amounts only. Each button fills the worksheet, calculates and takes you to the result.

Example 01

Delhi for twelve unchanged months

₹50,000 qualifying monthly salary, ₹25,000 HRA and ₹20,000 rent, under the old regime for Tax Year 2026–27.

Exempt: ₹1,80,000 · Taxable HRA: ₹1,20,000

Example 02

Bengaluru under the four-city rule

FY 2025–26: ₹50,000 monthly salary, ₹30,000 HRA and ₹35,000 rent. Bengaluru uses the 40% salary limit in this year.

Exempt: ₹2,40,000 · Same inputs in 2026–27: ₹3,00,000

Example 03

Rent changes halfway through the year

Delhi, old regime, 2026–27. Salary ₹50,000 and HRA ₹25,000 throughout; rent ₹20,000 for April–September, then ₹30,000 for October–March.

Exempt: ₹2,40,000 · Taxable HRA: ₹60,000

Example 04

Rent paid while the new regime applies

The same twelve-month Delhi inputs as Example 1, but with the new regime selected. This is not a comparison of total tax between regimes.

Exempt: ₹0 · Taxable HRA: ₹3,00,000

From estimate to payroll

Prepare the evidence behind your HRA

This calculator does not collect landlord identity, PAN, agreements or rent receipts.

01 / DECLARATION

Use the relevant form

For Tax Year 2026–27, Form 124 replaces the earlier Form 12BB. Use the form applicable to the income period; FY 2025–26 belongs to the earlier framework. Submit eligible claims and supporting evidence to your employer. The Form 124 FAQ says it is not uploaded separately to the tax portal.

Official Form 124 FAQ (PDF)

02 / RENT RECORDS

Keep records that agree

Keep the rent agreement and payment records, and reconcile the claimed period with occupancy and payslips. The Form 124 FAQ requires landlord PAN when annual rent exceeds ₹1,00,000.

That threshold is a disclosure requirement, not a ₹1,00,000 cap on exemption.

03 / LANDLORD DETAILS

Disclose the relationship

Form 124 includes the relationship with the landlord, if any. Paying a family member does not by itself establish eligibility; actual rent and the underlying arrangement still matter.

Notified Form 124 (PDF, page 719)

Choose the right input treatment

When your HRA situation changes

Practical scenarios and limits of this worksheet
Your situation	How to enter it	What to check separately
Rent or salary changes in October	Enter April–September and October–March as separate periods.	Match each period to actual payslips and rent paid.
You move from Delhi to another city	Create separate periods with each rented-home city.	Select the correct year; city limits are year-dependent.
HRA received, but no rent paid	Enter the HRA and rent ₹0 for those months.	The entire HRA for that period remains taxable.
No HRA component in salary	Enter HRA ₹0; this worksheet returns no HRA exemption.	A separate rent deduction may have its own eligibility rules; it is outside this calculator.
You own a home and rent elsewhere	Only model rent for accommodation you actually occupy and do not own.	Ownership, occupancy and any home-loan claim require an independent review.
A move or salary change happens mid-month	Do not treat the month as an unchanged whole-month period.	Use payroll's actual period allocation; daily apportionment is outside this tool.

Before you use the result

HRA calculator questions

Does the exempt amount equal my tax saving?

No. Exempt HRA reduces the amount of HRA included in taxable salary where eligible. Tax saving depends on your wider tax calculation. Use the Income Tax Calculator to explore a separate tax estimate with its stated assumptions.

Why is the result zero even though I pay rent?

Possible reasons include no HRA received, rent not exceeding 10% of qualifying salary, the new regime being selected, or the rented-home confirmation being unchecked. The monthly worksheet shows the relevant values.

Can I enter annual amounts in the monthly fields?

No. Enter monthly amounts for each period. Divide annual amounts only when they genuinely apply uniformly to those months; otherwise use separate periods. Unentered months are excluded.

Can I choose an ITR form from the HRA result?

No. HRA alone does not determine the return form. Business income, capital gains, residency and other conditions can affect which return applies. This page estimates an allowance, not ITR eligibility.

Are my salary and rent amounts saved or sent anywhere?

This calculator's script processes amounts in your browser and does not send them to a server or save them in browser storage. Downloaded worksheets stay wherever you save them. The site's other scripts follow the site's privacy policy. External font requests go to Google’s font CDN; normal request metadata is separate from worksheet entries.

Is this a government calculator or a verified exemption claim?

No. It is an independent estimate with links to official references. It does not validate documents, file a return, submit an employer declaration or calculate central-government HRA entitlement rates.

HRA rules & references

Official sources behind this worksheet, plus tools for the wider salary and tax calculation.

Official & useful links

CBDT — Income-tax Rules, 2026Notified city limits and HRA calculation under Rule 279 Income Tax Department — Employee benefitsFY 2025–26 / AY 2026–27 HRA and salary guidance Income Tax Department — Form 124 FAQEmployer declaration, supporting evidence and landlord PAN Income-tax Act, 2025 — Section 202New-regime restrictions on HRA exemption

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Need the wider salary context? Estimate salary tax and take-home pay. To change these inputs, return to the HRA worksheet.