New Tax Regime vs. Old Tax Regime – Which is better?

 Salaried employees can choose between the old and new income-tax regime at the time employers are deducting tax at sources (TDS) from salaries, a circular issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes said.

The Budget has proposed a New Tax Regime in addition to the existing, i.e. Old Tax Regime. However the New Tax Regime is optional. To put it simply, the assessee can choose between the New Tax Regime and the Old Tax Regime depending on what is best suitable from a tax planning point of view.

New vs. Old – Which is better?

The New Tax Regime has proposed lower income-tax rates, for income segments up to Rs 15 lakh. But you need to remember that the proposed lower tax rates will be applicable only if you are willing to give up exemptions and deductions available under various provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

This means that when you choose the New Tax Regime, you will have to forgo some exemptions [such as Leave Travel Allowance (LTA), House Rent Allowance (HRA), etc] and deductions available under chapter VI A of the Act that grant deductions under Section 80 [such as 80C, 80CCC, 80CCD, 80D, 80DD, 80E, 80EE, 80G, 80GG, 80GGA, 80GGC, etc].

Only the deduction under Section 80CCD(2) [i.e., employer’s contribution on account of an employee in a notified pension scheme] and Section 80JJAA [i.e. for new employment] can be claimed.

Even the Standard Deduction under Section 16 [which is currently Rs 50,000] available to salaried individuals and the deduction on home loan interest, under Section 24(b) will be disallowed. Around 70 exemptions and deductions have been removed in the New Tax Regime.