Manesh already decided old regime suited him — home loan, rent, family insurance. Now he wants the full deduction stack. Every rupee his lifestyle already covers, used to bring tax down.
Done well, this drops his tax by ₹1–4 lakh. Done casually, he leaves money on the table every March.
- 80C — ₹1.5L cap (PPF, ELSS, EPF, LIC, home loan principal, kids' tuition…)
- 80D — ₹25K self + ₹25K parents (₹50K if senior). Health insurance + check-up.
- 80CCD(1B) — extra ₹50K for NPS, over and above 80C.
- 80G — donations to approved entities. 50% or 100% deduction.
- None of these are available in the new regime (except employer NPS under 80CCD(2)).
Section 80C — the ₹1.5 lakh workhorse
The most-used section. Limit: ₹1,50,000 aggregated across all eligible investments & expenses. Not per item — combined.
What counts:
- PPF — 15-year lock. ~7.1% current rate. Tax-free interest + maturity. Most popular.
- EPF (own contribution) — auto for salaried.
- ELSS mutual funds — 3-year lock. Equity. Highest expected long-term return.
- LIC / term insurance premium — up to 10% of sum assured.
- NSC — 5-year lock. Govt-backed.
- 5-year tax-saver FD — bank / post-office FD with 5-year lock.
- Home loan principal repayment — the principal portion of every EMI.
- Children's tuition fees — max 2 children. Tuition only, not transport / books.
- Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana — girl child < 10 years; lock till 21.
- Stamp duty + registration on a home — one-time, in year of purchase.
- SCSS — for 60+.
- ULIPs — 5-year lock. Insurance + investment hybrid (proceed with caution).
His home loan principal alone is ₹1.1L this year. EPF auto-contribution adds ₹38K. That's ₹1.48L of 80C without buying a single new instrument. Almost everyone hits 80C limit just from existing commitments — check before you "invest to save tax".
Section 80CCD — NPS, layered
The trick with NPS is the three sub-sections:
👉 80CCD(1) — your own NPS contribution. Part of the overall ₹1.5L (combined with 80C).
👉 80CCD(1B) — additional ₹50,000 for NPS, over and above the ₹1.5L limit. Total possible: ₹2L. This is the only "extra" lever under old regime.
👉 80CCD(2) — employer's NPS contribution to your account. Up to 10% of salary (14% for govt employees). Allowed even under new regime.
Section 80D — health insurance
Self family (under 60)
Most working-age folks
₹25,000 — self + spouse + children. Includes up to ₹5,000 preventive check-up within this limit.
+ parents (senior)
The doubler
+ ₹50,000 for parents above 60. Total possible ₹75,000 for under-60 self + senior parents — or ₹1L if you're senior too.
Section 80E — education loan interest
Full interest deduction, no upper cap, on a loan taken for higher education — yours, your spouse's, or your children's.
Available for 8 years from the year repayment starts. After that, no further claim — but most loans are repaid by then anyway.
Section 80EE / 80EEA — extra home-loan interest
These sit on top of the ₹2L Section 24(b) interest deduction (which is separate from Chapter VI-A).
👉 80EE — extra ₹50K interest on first home loan (sanctioned FY 16-17). Property value < ₹50L, loan < ₹35L.
👉 80EEA — extra ₹1.5L on affordable home loan (sanctioned FY 19-20 to 21-22). Stamp value ≤ ₹45L.
Both windows are closed for fresh sanctions — but if your loan was sanctioned in the eligible period, you can keep claiming year after year till the loan ends.
Section 80G — donations
Four tiers of deduction:
👉 100% without limit — PM National Relief Fund, PM CARES, etc.
👉 50% without limit — PM's Drought Relief, Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund
👉 100% with 10%-of-AGI cap — Indian Olympic Association, etc.
👉 50% with 10%-of-AGI cap — most NGOs registered under 12A / 12AA
Cash donations above ₹2,000 are NOT eligible. Use UPI / cheque / bank transfer for anything bigger. Always get a stamped receipt with the NGO's 80G registration number.
Section 80GG — rent (when there's no HRA)
If you're salaried without HRA, or self-employed paying rent. Deduction = least of:
👉 ₹5,000/month (₹60,000/year)
👉 25% of total income
👉 Actual rent paid minus 10% of total income
You also need to file Form 10BA. Useful but capped — those with HRA structures get more.
Sections 80TTA / 80TTB — savings interest
👉 80TTA — ₹10,000 on savings bank interest (under 60).
👉 80TTB — ₹50,000 on interest from savings + FD + RD + bonds (senior citizens 60+).
One or the other based on age — not both.
Section 80U — disability of the taxpayer
If you yourself have a certified disability:
👉 40–80% disability — ₹75,000 flat deduction
👉 80%+ severe disability — ₹1,25,000 flat
Need a certificate from a medical authority. Self-attested while filing.
Manesh's stack — worked numbers
Manesh, single, 26, ₹12L gross salary, picked old regime:
Total Chapter VI-A: ₹2,85,000. Add the separate ₹2L home loan interest (Sec 24b) and his ₹2L HRA — old-regime savings are ~₹40K/year over new-regime for him. The old-regime decision was right.
Don't invest extra "just to save tax". First check what your existing life already qualifies for — home loan, EPF, kids' tuition, health insurance, parents' health. Usually you're at ₹1.5L without lifting a finger.
The most-missed deductions
Founders and salaried both miss these regularly:
👉 80CCD(1B) — the only "extra ₹50k" lever above 80C. Buy an NPS Tier-I unit if you don't already have one.
👉 80D parents' premium — your parents are likely seniors; their health premium gives you ₹50K extra deduction.
👉 80E education loan — full interest, no cap. Often forgotten by parents whose kids took the loan in their name.
👉 80GG — for self-employed paying rent. Easy miss because it needs Form 10BA.
👉 Preventive health check-up — ₹5k inside the 80D limit, often skipped.
Quick answers
Almost none. The new regime turns off ~70 deductions in exchange for lower slabs. Only Section 80CCD(2) — employer's NPS contribution — survives. For everything else here, you need to be on the old regime.
Keep proofs for 6 years after the assessment year — bank receipts, premium statements, FD receipts, 80G stamped receipts, EPF / NPS account statements. The IT department can ask anytime.
PPF — guaranteed 7%+, 15-year lock, fully tax-free. ELSS — equity, expected 11–13% long-term but volatile, 3-year lock. Most people split: PPF for safety + ELSS for return. Decide by your risk appetite.
No. The person who actually paid claims. If joint, split is allowed in proportion to actual contribution.
In ITR, fill the donee's name, PAN, address, registration number, and amount paid + qualifying amount. Cash > ₹2,000 isn't claimable — keep that in mind.
When you might want help
The list of sections is well-defined; the planning is where it gets interesting. Where founders / salaried benefit most: deciding which 80C instruments to use beyond home loan, structuring health insurance to maximise 80D, planning NPS contributions for 80CCD(1B), and the 2-3 year tax-planning view that doesn't just save this year but next.
Want a full tax-planning session?
One-hour call. We review your full income, lifestyle, existing deductions, and map the most efficient deduction stack for the next 3 years.