How Section 80C works
The Income Tax Act §80C lets individuals deduct up to ₹1,50,000 per financial year for eligible investments and expenses. Old regime only — new regime disallows 80C entirely.
The calculator above sums every eligible category and caps the total at ₹1.5L. Anything over the cap is “unutilised” — invested money that doesn’t reduce your tax bill.
Eligible categories (FY 2026-27)
| Category | Notes |
|---|---|
| EPF / VPF | Employee contribution, mandatory for salaried |
| PPF | Cap ₹1.5L/year per individual; 15-year lock-in |
| ELSS mutual funds | 3-year lock-in (shortest); equity-linked |
| Life insurance premium | Self / spouse / children |
| Sukanya Samriddhi (SSY) | Cap ₹1.5L/year; only for girl child < 10yo |
| NSC / KVP | 5-year lock-in; small savings scheme |
| Tax-saver FD | 5-year FD with 80C eligibility |
| Home loan principal | Principal portion of home-loan EMIs |
| Children tuition fees | Up to 2 children, school fees only (not coaching) |
| NPS Tier-1 (within 80C) | Counts toward 80C cap; 80CCD(1B) gives separate ₹50K |
Maximising the ₹1.5L cap
For most salaried filers, EPF (12% of basic) eats a chunk of the 80C limit automatically. If your basic salary is ~₹60K/month, EPF alone is ~₹86K — leaving ~₹64K headroom for ELSS / PPF / insurance.
If your EPF + voluntary investments cross ₹1.5L, the excess becomes “unutilised” — still useful for retirement savings, but not tax-deductible.
Bridges
- Income tax calculator — feed the 80C deduction here
- Home loan calculator — compute principal-vs-interest split
- Old vs new regime calculator — quantify regime difference