Old vs new tax regime
Compare the old and new tax regimes on your own numbers, and find out how much you would need to be claiming before the old one wins.
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.
- Gross annual salary
Your total salary income before any deduction. Both regimes are computed from this same figure.
- Enter every deduction you actually claim
80C, HRA, Section 24 home loan interest, NPS under 80CCD(1B), 80D health insurance. Only what you genuinely claim — the eligible amount is not the claimed amount.
- Compare the two totals
The new regime has wider slabs and a larger standard deduction but almost no deductions. The old one has narrow slabs and many.
- Read the break-even deduction figure
The number that settles the argument: how much you would need to claim for the old regime to pull level. Compare it against what you actually claim.
Worked example: ₹18 lakh salary, a well-organised set of deductions
A gross salary of ₹18 lakh. You claim the full ₹1.5 lakh under 80C, ₹50,000 of NPS and ₹25,000 of health insurance — more than most people manage.
What to enter
- Gross annual salary
- ₹18,00,000
- 80C (EPF, ELSS, premium)
- ₹1,50,000
- NPS (80CCD-1B)
- ₹50,000
- Health insurance (80D)
- ₹25,000
- HRA exemption
- ₹0
What it shows you
- New regime taxable
- ₹17.25 lakh
- New regime tax
- ≈ ₹1,50,800
- Old regime taxable
- ₹15.25 lakh
- Old regime tax
- ≈ ₹2,80,800
- New regime saves
- ≈ ₹1,30,000
- Deductions needed to break even
- ≈ ₹7 lakh
after ₹75,000 standard deduction
including 4% cess
Where this is taught
A calculator gives you a number. These explain what the number means and when it misleads you.
- Market Basics12 minOld regime, new regime, and the tax-saving trapWhich one costs you less, how much you would need to claim before the old one wins, and why buying an investment to save tax usually loses money.
- Market Basics12 minFiling taxes on your investmentsWhich ITR form, where the data comes from, how to report capital gains, set off losses, and harvest the annual exemption.
- Risk & Psychology11 minWhen tax decides the tradeWaiting five more weeks for a lower rate, or selling something good in March — how a tax rule quietly takes over an investment decision.
- Market Basics12 minCash, and the rules that decide whether it can reach the marketMoney kept at home is legal to hold and heavily restricted to move. The receipt limits, the PAN requirements, the reporting thresholds, and why the explanation matters more than the amount.
- Market Basics10 minELSS: the tax-saving fund with the shortest lock-inThe one 80C option that invests in equity. How the deduction works, the three-year lock-in, why it only helps under the old tax regime, and where the real risk and reward sit.