HRA exemption calculator
Work out how much of your House Rent Allowance is exempt from tax — the least of the three limbs the rule sets — and what that is worth at your slab.
Runs entirely in your browserRuns entirely on your device — nothing you type is sent anywhere. Educational only, and not investment advice.
How to use this calculator
Each step names a control you will find on screen above.
- Monthly basic salary
Your basic pay — not the whole CTC. The exemption is built on basic (plus dearness allowance where it applies), so getting this right matters more than any other input.
- Monthly HRA received
The House Rent Allowance component of your salary, from your payslip. It caps the exemption: you can never exempt more HRA than you were actually paid.
- Monthly rent paid
What you actually pay your landlord. If you pay no rent, or rent less than 10% of basic, the exemption collapses to zero however large your HRA.
- City
Metro or non-metro. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai count as metros and allow 50% of basic as the third limb; everywhere else it is 40%.
- Your tax slab
Sets what the exemption is worth in rupees. The exemption itself does not depend on your slab; the tax saved does.
Worked example: A metro salary with real rent
Basic ₹50,000 a month, HRA ₹25,000, rent ₹22,000, living in a metro, on the 30% slab — all monthly figures, worked out over a year.
What to enter
- Monthly basic salary
- ₹50,000
- Monthly HRA received
- ₹25,000
- Monthly rent paid
- ₹22,000
- City
- Metro
- Your tax slab
- 30%
What it shows you
- Limb 1 — HRA received
- ₹3,00,000
- Limb 2 — rent − 10% basic
- ₹2,04,000
- Limb 3 — 50% of basic
- ₹3,00,000
- Exempt (the least)
- ₹2,04,000
- Taxable HRA
- ₹96,000
- Tax saved
- ≈ ₹61,200
₹25,000 × 12
₹2,64,000 − ₹60,000
metro
30% of the exemption
Where this is taught
A calculator gives you a number. These explain what the number means and when it misleads you.
- Market Basics11 minReading your salary slip: CTC, EPF and what actually arrivesThe gap between the number in the offer letter and the number in your bank account is large, structured, and mostly not tax. What each line is doing.
- Market Basics14 minThe day you change jobs: four accounts, four different clocksA resignation triggers more switches at once than any other event in an ordinary life. One account counts your service across employers, one counts it only within an employer, one does not care, and one has a button that quietly destroys nine years of it.