Section 80C Calculator
Fill the 1.5 lakh basket, spot the headroom, and price what it saves.
- Entered across all instruments
- ₹1,10,000.00
- Allowed under section 123, capped at ₹1,50,000.00
- ₹1,10,000.00
- Section 124 NPS, outside the basket
- ₹0.00
- Total deduction
- ₹1,10,000.00
- Section 123 allowed
- ₹1,10,000.00
- Unused headroom
- ₹40,000.00
FY 2026-27 (AY 2027-28). Section 123 of the Income-tax Act 2025 is the old section 80C, and section 124 is the old 80CCD(1B) — the limits did not change when the Act was renumbered, only the numbers did. The ₹1.5 lakh is a single ceiling shared across the whole basket, including the pension-fund premium formerly deducted under 80CCC. The extra ₹50,000 for NPS Tier-I sits on top of it. Both are available under the old regime only: under the new regime, which is the default, they are worth nothing. The one deduction that does survive the new regime is your employer's NPS contribution (ex-80CCD(2)), at up to 14% of basic plus dearness allowance — that is not part of this basket and is not shown here. Tax saved is computed as the actual difference in tax with and without the deduction, so a deduction spanning a slab boundary is priced correctly rather than at a single flat rate.
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Independent · No commissions · No fund-house data — how the numbers are computed
How it works
Section 80C — renumbered to section 123 by the Income-tax Act 2025, with the same ₹1.5 lakh ceiling — is a single basket shared across a long list of instruments: your own EPF contribution, PPF, ELSS funds, life insurance premiums, home-loan principal, tuition fees for up to two children, NSC, five-year tax-saver deposits and Sukanya Samriddhi among them. Money above the ceiling buys nothing, and most people discover they have filled a good part of it through EPF and a home loan before investing a rupee deliberately.
A second deduction of up to ₹50,000 for NPS Tier-I sits outside the basket, under what used to be section 80CCD(1B). Keeping the two separate matters: merging them is the most common way these planners mislead, because it makes a full basket look like it still has headroom.
Both are available under the old regime only. Under the new regime, which has been the default since AY 2024-25, they are worth exactly nothing — so the first question is not how to fill the basket but whether you are in a regime where it counts.
Deduction = min(sum of eligible investments, ₹1,50,000) + min(NPS Tier-I contribution, ₹50,000). Tax saved = tax on income without the deduction - tax on income after it.The saving is computed as an actual difference in tax rather than as the deduction times a slab rate, so a deduction that straddles a slab boundary is priced correctly. At the boundary between the 20% and 30% old-regime slabs, a flat multiplication can overstate the benefit by thousands.
Frequently asked questions
Is Section 80C available under the new tax regime?
No. Section 80C, now section 123, is an old-regime deduction and is worth nothing under the new regime. The same is true of the extra ₹50,000 for NPS and of the section 80D health-insurance deduction. The one contribution that does survive into the new regime is your employer's NPS contribution, at up to 14% of basic plus dearness allowance, and that is not part of this basket.
Does my EPF contribution count toward the 1.5 lakh?
Your own contribution does, and for many salaried people it fills a large part of the basket before any deliberate investment. Your employer's matching contribution does not count here — it is dealt with separately. Check your payslip before buying an ELSS fund or an insurance policy to fill a basket that may already be close to full.
What is the difference between 80C and 80CCD(1B)?
Section 80C, now 123, is the ₹1.5 lakh basket shared across all the eligible instruments. Section 80CCD(1B), now 124, is a separate ₹50,000 deduction for your own contribution to an NPS Tier-I account, and it sits on top of the basket rather than inside it. Someone who fills both claims ₹2 lakh in total under the old regime.
Which instrument should I use to fill the remaining headroom?
That depends on your horizon and your appetite for risk rather than on the tax, which is identical whichever eligible instrument you choose. ELSS carries the shortest lock-in at three years but is equity and can fall; PPF is a fifteen-year government-backed commitment; a five-year tax-saver deposit pays interest that is itself taxable. The deduction is the same in each case.