Find out how much of your house rent allowance is tax-free. Enter your basic salary, the HRA you receive and the rent you pay, and see all three limits side by side, under the latest rules that make eight cities metros from FY 2026-27.
Use the figures from your payslip and rent agreement.
Dearness allowance (DA) counts only if it's part of your retirement benefits. Most private-sector salaries have none.
The house rent allowance on your payslip.
Where the rented home is.
FY 2026-27 runs from April 2026 to March 2027.
Tax-free HRA for FY 2026-27
₹0.00
₹0.00 a month · Taxable HRA ₹0.00 a year
| Item | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| HRA received Lowest | ₹0.00 | ₹0.00 |
| Rent paid minus 10% of basic + DA | ₹0.00 | ₹0.00 |
| 40% of basic + DA (non-metro) | ₹0.00 | ₹0.00 |
| Item | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| HRA received | ₹0.00 | ₹0.00 |
| Exempt (tax-free) HRA | ₹0.00 | ₹0.00 |
| Taxable HRA | ₹0.00 | ₹0.00 |
Good to know
Make the rent receipts your employer will ask for.
Make rent receiptsYour basic salary (plus DA, if any) and the HRA on your payslip, monthly or yearly.
The rent you pay and the city you live in. Metros get a higher limit.
The tax-free and taxable parts of your HRA, with the limit that decides it highlighted.
Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad count as metros from FY 2026-27, alongside the original four.
See the HRA received, rent minus 10% of basic, and 50% or 40% of basic, with the lowest picked out.
Enter figures either way; results are shown for both a month and the full year.
Switch between FY 2026-27 and FY 2025-26 to see how the new metro list changes your exemption.
Carry your rent straight into our free rent receipt generator.
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If your salary includes house rent allowance (HRA) and you live in a rented home, part of the HRA can be tax-free under the old tax regime. The tax-free amount is the lowest of three figures:
Until FY 2025-26, only Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai counted as metros for HRA. The Income-tax Rules, 2026 add Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad from 1 April 2026, so salaried people living there can now claim up to 50% of basic salary instead of 40%.
Only the cities themselves are included. Satellite cities such as Gurugram, Noida, Navi Mumbai and Thane still use the 40% limit. For someone in Bengaluru with a basic salary of ₹60,000 a month, the higher limit can add up to ₹6,000 a month (₹72,000 a year) to the tax-free HRA, if the rent and HRA are high enough.
You can claim HRA on rent paid to your parents if they own the home and you genuinely pay them rent, ideally by bank transfer, with a rent agreement and receipts. Your parents must show the rent as income in their own tax return. You can't claim HRA on rent paid to your spouse, or for a home you own and live in.
If your salary doesn't include HRA, for example because you're self-employed or your employer doesn't offer it, there's a separate deduction for rent paid under the old regime. It has its own, lower limits and needs a declaration form. Ask your tax adviser whether it applies to you.
No. The HRA exemption is only available under the old tax regime. If you choose the new regime, all of your HRA is taxed as part of your salary, though the new regime's lower rates and higher rebate often make up for it.
From FY 2026-27: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad. Up to FY 2025-26, only the first four. Satellite cities such as Gurugram, Noida, Navi Mumbai and Thane are not included.
Only dearness allowance that forms part of your salary for retirement benefits counts. Most private-sector salaries don't include DA, so you can usually enter just your basic salary.
Yes, if the rent you pay is more than ₹1,00,000 a year (about ₹8,333 a month). If your landlord doesn't have a PAN, they can give you a signed declaration saying so instead.
Usually rent receipts for each month, and often the rent agreement. Our free rent receipt generator makes a full year of receipts in one PDF.
The exemption is worked out only for the months you paid rent and received HRA. Enter monthly figures here and multiply the monthly exemption by the number of months you rented.
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