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HRA Calculator

Calculators · Added 14 August 2026

House rent allowance is exempt from tax only up to the least of three amounts, and which one binds depends on your salary, your rent and your city. This calculator works out all three, shows which one decided the outcome, and splits your HRA into the exempt and taxable portions.

Figures entered are

Only if it forms part of retirement benefits. Blank is fine.

City

How to use the hra calculator

  1. 1Choose whether you are entering yearly or monthly figures — the calculator annualises for you.
  2. 2Enter basic salary, and dearness allowance if it forms part of your retirement benefits. Leave DA blank if it does not apply.
  3. 3Enter the HRA you actually receive and the rent you actually pay.
  4. 4Select metro or non-metro. Only Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai count as metros for this purpose.
  5. 5Press Calculate. The result shows all three limbs with the binding one highlighted, then the exempt and taxable split.

Examples

Rent is the binding limb

Input
Basic ₹6,00,000, HRA ₹3,00,000, rent ₹2,40,000, metro
Result
Exemption ₹1,80,000 — rent minus 10% of salary is the smallest of the three

₹1,20,000 of the HRA received stays taxable. Paying more rent would raise the exemption until another limb binds.

The HRA itself is the cap

Input
Basic ₹6,00,000, HRA ₹2,00,000, rent ₹6,00,000, non-metro
Result
Exemption ₹2,00,000 — you cannot exempt more HRA than you receive

Rent well above the allowance buys no further exemption. The limb that binds here is the simplest one.

Metro versus non-metro on identical figures

Input
Basic ₹10,00,000, HRA ₹5,00,000, rent ₹4,00,000
Result
Metro exemption ₹3,00,000 against non-metro ₹3,00,000 — here the rent limb binds in both

The city only changes the answer when the 50%/40% limb is the smallest. Check which limb is highlighted before assuming it matters.

About the hra calculator

Why there are three limbs

The exemption is the least of: the HRA actually received, rent paid minus 10% of salary, and 50% of salary in a metro or 40% elsewhere. Each limb exists to close a different gap, and understanding which is which makes the result predictable rather than mysterious.

The first is straightforward — you cannot exempt an allowance you were never paid. The second embodies the idea that some housing cost is expected of everyone, so only rent above 10% of salary counts as the allowance doing its job. The third caps the whole thing as a proportion of salary, so a very high rent relative to income cannot convert an unlimited amount of salary into exempt income.

Because the exemption is the smallest of the three, only one of them binds at a time, and which one it is tells you what would actually change your position. If the rent limb binds, paying more rent raises the exemption. If the HRA limb binds, it does not — restructuring the salary would. If the percentage limb binds, neither helps. The calculator highlights the binding limb for exactly this reason.

The documentation that actually matters

HRA is among the more scrutinised salary exemptions, largely because it is among the easiest to overstate. What protects a claim is ordinary evidence that the arrangement is real: a rent agreement, rent paid by bank transfer rather than cash, and receipts. Where annual rent exceeds ₹1,00,000, the landlord's PAN must be reported to the employer.

The practical failure mode is not fraud but sloppiness — a claim made to the employer in January for rent that was paid in cash to a relative with no agreement and no PAN. That is difficult to substantiate later, and the consequence is disallowance with interest rather than a polite request for paperwork.

It is also worth submitting the declaration to your employer during the year rather than claiming it in the return. Doing so reduces the TDS deducted from each payslip, which is the same money arriving nine months earlier. The alternative — over-deducted TDS reclaimed as a refund after filing — works, but it is an interest-free loan to the government in the meantime.

Frequently asked questions

Which cities count as metros?
Only Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, for this specific purpose. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and every other city are non-metro under section 10(13A) however large they are or however high their rents. This is a statutory list, not a judgement about the city.
What counts as salary here?
Basic pay plus dearness allowance, where the DA forms part of retirement benefits, plus any commission based on a fixed percentage of turnover. It is not gross salary and not CTC. Using gross inflates both the 10% deduction and the 50%/40% limb, which usually produces a wrong answer in the taxpayer's favour — the kind that surfaces during assessment.
Does this apply in the new tax regime?
No. The HRA exemption is an old-regime benefit; the new regime removed it along with most other deductions. If you have opted into the new regime, this figure is worth nothing to you — which is itself useful to know when comparing the two, because a large HRA exemption is one of the main things that can keep the old regime competitive.
Can I claim HRA while paying rent to a family member?
It is permitted where the arrangement is genuine — the relative must actually own the property, the rent must actually be paid, and it is taxable income in their hands. Arrangements that exist only on paper have been disallowed repeatedly. Keep the rent agreement, the bank transfers and the owner's PAN where the annual rent crosses the reporting threshold.
What if I do not receive HRA at all?
Then section 10(13A) does not apply, but section 80GG may — a separate and much smaller deduction for people paying rent without an HRA component. It has its own conditions and limits and is not what this calculator computes.

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