HRA Exemption Calculator - House Rent Tax Relief

House Rent Allowance is taxable in India unless an exemption is available under the old tax regime rules that compare three figures and allow the smallest. Employees often look at rent or at HRA received and assume the full amount is exempt. The HRA exemption calculator applies the statutory minimum so the exempt and taxable portions are visible before payroll or a return is filed. Annual exemption is the least of: HRA actually received during the year; rent paid minus 10% of basic salary; and 50% of basic salary for metro employment or 40% for non-metro employment. Monthly inputs are multiplied by 12 unless you override annual rent. Metro here means the city-type switch on the form (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai in the classic rule of thumb). Taxable HRA is received HRA minus the exemption. A common salaried case is ₹50,000 basic, ₹20,000 HRA, and ₹15,000 rent. Received HRA is ₹240,000, rent minus 10% of basic is ₹120,000, and the metro 50% cap is ₹300,000, so exemption is ₹120,000. Raising rent to ₹25,000 lifts the rent-minus-10% figure to ₹240,000, which then ties the received HRA and becomes the exemption. If rent is low relative to basic, the 10% test often binds first. The new tax regime generally does not allow HRA exemption, and special cases such as living in your own house, paying rent to a spouse, or needing Form 12BB evidence are not modeled. Use current employer and Income Tax Department guidance. Keep rent receipts and the landlord PAN when annual rent is high enough to require it, and treat this figure as a planning exemption rather than an assessment order. Keep the three statutory legs in view whenever rent, basic pay, or HRA changes mid-year. A promotion that lifts basic salary can reduce exemption because the 10% test and the 40% or 50% cap both move, even if rent is unchanged. Conversely, a rent increase only helps until it hits received HRA. Use the HRA exemption calculator to test those moving pieces before submitting proofs to payroll, and store the monthly figures that produced the annual exemption.