For AY 2026-27: 80C is Rs 1,50,000 (shared with 80CCC and 80CCD(1)); 80D is Rs 25,000, or Rs 50,000 where a senior citizen is insured, with a separate parallel limit for parents; 80E has no cap but runs only eight years; 80TTA is Rs 10,000 and 80TTB Rs 50,000; 80DD and 80U are flat Rs 75,000, or Rs 1,25,000 for severe disability. Every one of them is switched off under the new regime.
Section 80C is a shared bucket, not a standalone allowance. The Rs 1,50,000 ceiling is imposed by s.80CCE across s.80C, s.80CCC and s.80CCD(1) together, so a pension premium or your own NPS contribution eats into the same room as PPF, EPF, ELSS, life insurance, five-year tax-saving deposits, home loan principal, stamp duty on a house, and tuition fees for up to two children. Only individuals and HUFs can claim it. The one genuine addition on top is s.80CCD(1B), which allows a further Rs 50,000 for NPS, taking the combined figure to Rs 2,00,000.
Section 80D is two limits running in parallel, not one. You get up to Rs 25,000 for health insurance covering yourself, your spouse and dependent children, which rises to Rs 50,000 if the person insured is a senior citizen. You get a second, separate limit on the same scale for premiums paid for your parents — Rs 25,000, or Rs 50,000 if they are seniors. The maximum a person can reach is therefore Rs 1,00,000, and only where both the taxpayer and the parents are senior citizens. Where a senior citizen has no health policy at all, actual medical expenditure can be claimed instead, within the same Rs 50,000. Preventive health check-ups are worth up to Rs 5,000 but sit inside the limit rather than on top of it, and the check-up is the one component you are allowed to pay in cash — premiums paid in cash disqualify the claim entirely.
Section 80E is the odd one out because it has no rupee ceiling. All the interest you pay on a loan for higher education is deductible, for yourself, your spouse, your children, or a student for whom you are the legal guardian. Two things limit it: the loan must come from a bank or other financial institution or an approved charitable institution, so a loan from a relative does nothing, and the deduction runs for a maximum of eight assessment years from the year repayment starts, or until the loan is cleared, whichever comes first. Principal repayment is not deductible under s.80E at all.
Section 80TTA and s.80TTB are mutually exclusive and differ in both amount and scope. Section 80TTA gives up to Rs 10,000 and covers only savings account interest. Section 80TTB gives up to Rs 50,000 to a resident individual aged 60 or above at any time in the year, and covers interest on savings accounts, fixed deposits, recurring deposits, post office schemes and co-operative bank deposits. A senior citizen claims 80TTB and not 80TTA. Neither covers interest on company deposits, bonds or debentures.
Sections 80DD and 80U are flat amounts, not reimbursements — Rs 75,000 for a disability of 40% or more and Rs 1,25,000 where the disability is severe, generally certified at 80% or more. It does not matter how much you actually spent. Section 80U is for the taxpayer's own disability and s.80DD for a dependant — spouse, child, parent, brother or sister who is wholly or mainly dependent on you. You need a certificate from a recognised medical authority, and Form 10-IA must be filed before the return with its acknowledgement number entered in the relevant schedule. The same person cannot be the subject of an 80DD claim by you and an 80U claim in their own return for the same year.
Now the part that decides whether any of this matters to you. Under s.115BAC, the default regime, none of s.80C, s.80CCD(1B), s.80D, s.80DD, s.80E, s.80G, s.80TTA, s.80TTB or s.80U is available. The Chapter VI-A deductions that survive are s.80CCD(2) for the employer's NPS contribution, s.80CCH(2) for the Agniveer Corpus Fund, and s.80JJAA for additional employee cost. So the whole list above is an old-regime list, and the arithmetic of choosing a regime is really the arithmetic of whether these deductions plus HRA are worth more to you than the wider slabs.
These are the deductions that decide, for most salaried people, whether the old regime beats the default new one. Because the new regime is the default, sitting still means losing all of them. And most of these limits are shared or paired in ways that are not obvious from the section number — the 80C bucket, the two-track 80D, the 80TTA/80TTB either-or — so people routinely claim more than the law allows and get an intimation under s.143(1).
The officer has disallowed a receipt on the ground that it is not 'derived from' our undertaking. Does the exact wording of the deduction section decide the point?
One of my units qualifies for the priority industry deduction and made a profit, while another unit made a loss. Must I set the loss off before claiming?
My client took a Jeevan Aadhar policy for his disabled child and claimed s.80DD, but the policy pays nothing while he is alive. Is that condition open to challenge?
My s.148 reassessment started over a political donation but the Assessing Officer has disallowed my 80D and 80DDB for my parents' medical expenses as well. Are those safe?
My consultant filed Form 10-IEA opting me out of the new regime by mistake, but my return was computed under s.115BAC(1A). The CPC has processed me under the old regime. Can the return prevail over the form?
My client's total income is under Rs 7 lakh but it includes a small crypto gain, and the CPC has knocked out his Rs 25,000 rebate under section 87A. Is that right?
I meant to stay in the new regime but a wrong Form 10-IE put me back in the old one, and CPC has taxed me under the old regime with no Chapter VI-A deductions because I claimed none in the return. Can I claim them now?
In a s.147 reassessment the Assessing Officer has thrown out my s.80U disability deduction along with 80C and 80TTA because I produced nothing during the assessment. Can I still prove it in appeal?
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