HRA Calculator
Work out how much of your House Rent Allowance (HRA) is exempt from income tax under Section 10(13A), based on your basic salary, dearness allowance, actual HRA received, rent paid and city type. This exemption applies only if you've chosen the old tax regime.
Fill in the form and select "Calculate" to see your results here.
What is HRA exemption?
House Rent Allowance (HRA) is a common component of salary in India, paid by employers to help cover an employee's rent. Under Section 10(13A) of the Income Tax Act, some or all of the HRA you receive can be excluded from your taxable salary if you actually pay rent for your accommodation. This exemption reduces the income tax you owe — it does not affect the HRA amount your employer pays you each month, only how much of it counts as taxable income.
The exemption is available only if you opt for the old tax regime. If you file under the new tax regime, HRA exemption is not available at all — your entire HRA is treated as taxable salary regardless of how much rent you pay. This is one of the more significant trade-offs to weigh when comparing the two regimes if you pay substantial rent.
How to use this calculator
- Enter your monthly basic salary — the basic pay component only, not your full CTC.
- Enter your monthly Dearness Allowance (DA), or leave it at 0 if you don't receive one, which applies to most private-sector employees.
- Enter the monthly HRA amount your employer actually pays you, as shown in your salary structure or payslip.
- Enter the actual monthly rent you pay for your accommodation.
- Select whether you live in a metro city (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata or Chennai) or a non-metro city.
- Select "Calculate HRA Exemption" to see your exempt HRA, taxable HRA, and total HRA received on an annual basis.
Formula
All three amounts are computed on an annual basis, even though this calculator accepts monthly figures for convenience. Whichever of the three amounts is smallest becomes your exempt HRA — the rest of the HRA you received is added to your taxable salary. This exemption is available only under the old tax regime; add the exempt amount to your deductions in the Income Tax Calculator to see its effect on your overall tax.
Example
Consider a basic salary of ₹25,000 per month, no DA, HRA received of ₹12,000 per month, rent paid of ₹10,000 per month, and a metro city.
- Basic + DA (annual) = ₹25,000 × 12 = ₹3,00,000
- Annual HRA received = ₹12,000 × 12 = ₹1,44,000
- Rent minus 10% of Basic + DA = (₹10,000 × 12) − (10% × ₹3,00,000) = ₹1,20,000 − ₹30,000 = ₹90,000
- 50% of Basic + DA (metro) = 50% × ₹3,00,000 = ₹1,50,000
- HRA Exemption = least of (₹1,44,000, ₹90,000, ₹1,50,000) = ₹90,000
- Taxable HRA = ₹1,44,000 − ₹90,000 = ₹54,000
In this example, the "rent paid minus 10% of salary" rule is the binding constraint — it produces the smallest of the three amounts, so it caps the exemption at ₹90,000, even though the actual HRA received (₹1,44,000) and the 50% metro limit (₹1,50,000) are both higher. This is a common outcome for employees whose rent is modest relative to their basic salary: the exemption ends up governed by how much rent is actually paid, not by how generous the employer's HRA component is.
Factors that affect your HRA exemption
- Old tax regime only. HRA exemption under Section 10(13A) applies only if you choose the old tax regime for the financial year. The new tax regime does not permit this exemption under any circumstances, so if you've opted in (or been defaulted into) the new regime, your full HRA is taxable.
- City classification. Only Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai qualify for the higher 50% metro limit. Every other city, however large, falls under the 40% non-metro limit for this specific calculation.
- Rent actually paid. The exemption depends on rent you actually pay, not on rent you could pay. If you pay no rent, or rent well below 10% of your basic salary, your exemption can be small or zero even if your HRA component is large.
- PAN requirement for high rent. If your annual rent paid exceeds ₹1,00,000, you're typically required to provide your landlord's PAN (or a declaration if the landlord doesn't have one) to your employer to claim the exemption through payroll.
- Not applicable if you don't receive HRA as salary. If you're self-employed, or salaried but don't receive an HRA component at all, this exemption doesn't apply to you. You may instead be able to claim a deduction for rent paid under Section 80GG, which has its own separate conditions and limits.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The HRA exemption under Section 10(13A) is available only if you choose the old tax regime. The new tax regime does away with most exemptions and deductions, including this one, in exchange for lower slab rates. If you've opted for the new regime, your entire HRA is added to your taxable salary with no exemption at all.
You can claim HRA exemption on rent paid to your parents, provided the arrangement is genuine — you should have a rent agreement, actually transfer the rent (ideally by bank transfer, not cash), and your parents should declare that rent as income in their own tax return. This is not available if you pay rent to your spouse, as that is not considered a valid landlord-tenant relationship for this purpose.
For HRA exemption purposes, only Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai are treated as metro cities, qualifying for the higher 50% of basic-plus-DA limit. Every other city in India — including large cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad — is treated as non-metro for this calculation, with a 40% limit. This classification is specific to the HRA rule and doesn't necessarily match how a city is described elsewhere.
If you don't pay rent, you cannot claim any HRA exemption, even if your salary includes an HRA component. With rent paid at zero, the "rent minus 10% of salary" limit works out to zero (or less), which becomes the least of the three amounts and therefore your exempt amount. The full HRA you receive would then be taxable.
Section 10(13A) applies only to salaried individuals who receive HRA as a component of their salary. If you're self-employed, or salaried but don't receive HRA at all, you may instead be able to claim a deduction for rent paid under Section 80GG, subject to its own conditions and limits. That is a separate provision from the one this calculator estimates.
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Tax calculations are estimates based on the selected financial year and the information entered. They do not account for every deduction, exemption, or edge case in the Income Tax Act, and are not a substitute for professional tax advice. See our full disclaimer.