Which salary figure does the calculation use?

Basic pay plus dearness allowance, not gross salary and not CTC. Using a larger figure inflates both the ten per cent deduction and the fifty per cent cap, and produces an exemption you cannot claim.

Will paying more rent increase my exemption?

Only if rent minus ten per cent of salary is currently the smallest of the three figures, and only until one of the others becomes smaller. The tool names the binding one so you can tell.

Which cities count as metros?

Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, and no others. Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune are treated as non-metro for this purpose regardless of what rents there suggest.

Can I claim this under the new regime?

No. The exemption exists only in the old regime, which is often the single largest factor in choosing between the two for someone paying substantial rent.

HRA Calculator

The exemption, as the least of three figures, with the binding one named.

Everything runs inside your browser. Your files never leave your device.

Result

The result appears here as you type.

Ask about HRA Calculator

Questions about what this tool does, which option to pick, or what it can and cannot handle.

The question you type here is sent to an AI provider to be answered — your files and whatever you put in the tool above are not, and the assistant cannot see them. Answers are generated and can be wrong. The tool itself is not guessing: it runs deterministic code on your device.

About the HRA Calculator

The house rent allowance exemption is the least of three separate figures, which is why guessing at it almost never works. This computes all three, names the one that binds, and shows how much of the allowance stays taxable.

The three are: the allowance you actually receive; the rent you paid minus ten per cent of salary; and half your salary in a metro or forty per cent elsewhere. Salary here means basic pay plus dearness allowance, not your gross package — using gross is the single commonest error and it inflates the exemption substantially.

Knowing which figure binds tells you what to do about it. If the allowance itself is the smallest, paying more rent changes nothing and the fix is a restructured salary. If the fifty per cent cap binds, the same applies. Only when rent minus ten per cent of salary is the smallest does additional rent increase the exemption, and even then only up to the point where one of the other two takes over. The tool names the binding constraint for this reason.

A few conditions sit outside the arithmetic. The exemption requires that you actually pay rent for accommodation you occupy and do not own. Annual rent above one lakh requires the landlord's permanent account number. Rent paid to a parent is allowed if it is genuinely paid and the parent declares it as income; rent claimed against a spouse is routinely disallowed.

The largest condition of all is the regime. The exemption exists only under the old regime — the new one does not allow it, which for many renters is the deciding factor between the two.

How to use it

1Enter your monthly basic pay and dearness allowance, not your gross salary.
2Enter the allowance you receive and the rent you actually pay.
3Set the metro toggle correctly — only Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai count.
4Read which of the three figures is binding before trying to increase the exemption.

Questions

Which salary figure does the calculation use?: Basic pay plus dearness allowance, not gross salary and not CTC. Using a larger figure inflates both the ten per cent deduction and the fifty per cent cap, and produces an exemption you cannot claim.
Will paying more rent increase my exemption?: Only if rent minus ten per cent of salary is currently the smallest of the three figures, and only until one of the others becomes smaller. The tool names the binding one so you can tell.
Which cities count as metros?: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, and no others. Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune are treated as non-metro for this purpose regardless of what rents there suggest.
Can I claim this under the new regime?: No. The exemption exists only in the old regime, which is often the single largest factor in choosing between the two for someone paying substantial rent.