New Income tax rule salaried are in great loss

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Individuals opting to pay tax under the new lower personal income tax regime will have to forgo almost all tax breaks they were claiming in the current tax structure. The important tax breaks that will not be available under the new regime include Section 80C (Investments in PF, NPS, Life insurance premium), Section 80D (medical insurance premium), tax breaks on HRA and on interest paid on housing loan. Tax breaks for the disabled and for charitable donations also go. Therefore, it is not clear as to whether the new personal tax regime will really bring substantial tax savings for most. 

“Under the new tax regime, the individuals can opt to pay tax at the reduced rates without claiming the various tax exemptions and deductions. The individuals will have to work out their liability under the old and new tax regime before deciding which one is more beneficial. While the new regime seems simple on account of no exemptions, there would be individuals who have already made commitment in recurring tax savings instruments who may still want to avail exemptions and get taxed under the old regime,” said Shalini Jain, Tax Partner, EY India. 

Here’s a list of the main exemptions that tax payers will have to forgo if they opt for the new regime. 

(i) Leave travel allowance exemption which is currently available to salaried employees twice in a block of four years 

(ii) House rent allowance normally paid to salaried individuals as part of salary. This could be claimed as tax exempt upto certain specified limits if the individual was staying in rented accommodation 

(iii) Standard deduction of Rs 50,000 currently available to salaried tax payers 

(iv) Deduction for entertainment allowance and employment/professional tax as contained in section 16 

(v) Tax benefit on interest paid on housing loan taken for a self occupied or vacant house property: Interest paid on housing loan for such a property could be claimed as a deduction from income from house property which resulted in a loss from house property (as the property was self/occupied or vacant). This loss could be set off against salary income thereby reducing the individuals’ taxable income and net tax liability. This comes under section 24 

(vi) Deduction of Rs 15000 allowed from family pension under clause (iia) of section 57 

(vii) The most commonly claimed deductions under section 80C will also go. This includes the commonly availed section 80C deductions claimed for provident fund contributions, life insurance premium, school tuition fee for children and various specified investments such as ELSS, NPS, PPF etc. 

However, deduction under sub-section (2) of section 80CCD (employer contribution on account of employee in notified pension scheme—mostly NPS) and section 80JJAA (for new employment) can still be claimed 

(viii) The deduction claimed for medical insurance premium under section 80D will also not be claimable 

(ix) Tax benefits for disability under sections 80DD and 80DDB will not be claimable 

(x) Tax break on interest paid on education loan will not be claimable-section 80E 

(xi) Tax break on donations to charitable institutions available under section 80G will not be available 

All deductions under chapter VIA (like section 80C, 80CCC, 80CCD, 80D, 80DD, 80DDB, 80E, 80EE, 80EEA, 80EEB, 80G, 80GG, 80GGA, 80GGC, 80IA, 80-IAB, 80-IAC, 80-IB, 80-IBA, etc) will not be claimable by those opting for the new tax regime.