Question 1

What is in-hand salary?

Accepted Answer

In-hand salary, or take-home pay, is what actually lands in your bank account each month once income tax (TDS), your provident fund contribution and professional tax have been taken out of your gross salary. It is always lower than the CTC in your offer letter, because CTC also includes what your employer puts into your PF, NPS and gratuity.

Question 2

What are the income tax slabs for FY 2026-27 (AY 2027-28)?

Accepted Answer

Under the new regime: nil up to ₹4 lakh, 5% from ₹4–8 lakh, 10% from ₹8–12 lakh, 15% from ₹12–16 lakh, 20% from ₹16–20 lakh, 25% from ₹20–24 lakh and 30% above ₹24 lakh. Budget 2026 left these unchanged from the previous year. The old regime still runs on its own slabs: nil up to ₹2.5 lakh, 5% to ₹5 lakh, 20% to ₹10 lakh and 30% above that.

Question 3

Is income up to ₹12 lakh really tax free?

Accepted Answer

Yes, under the new regime. The section 87A rebate of up to ₹60,000 wipes out the tax on a taxable income of ₹12 lakh. Add the ₹75,000 standard deduction and a salaried person earning up to ₹12.75 lakh pays nothing. The rebate does not apply to the old regime, where the ceiling is ₹5 lakh and the rebate is ₹12,500.

Question 4

What happens if I earn just over ₹12 lakh?

Accepted Answer

Marginal relief steps in. Between ₹12,00,001 and roughly ₹12,75,000 of taxable income, your tax before cess is capped at the amount you earned above ₹12 lakh, so ₹12.1 lakh of taxable income attracts ₹10,000 of tax plus 4% cess, not the ₹61,500 the slabs alone would produce. This calculator applies that relief automatically.

Question 5

Should I choose the new regime or the old one?

Accepted Answer

It depends entirely on how much you can deduct. The new regime has wider slabs but allows almost nothing beyond the standard deduction and your employer’s NPS contribution. The old regime has higher rates but lets you claim HRA, 80C, 80D, home loan interest and more. This calculator computes both at once and tells you which leaves you better off, plus the level of deductions at which the old regime would overtake the new one.

Question 6

How is the HRA exemption calculated?

Accepted Answer

The exemption is the least of three amounts: the HRA you actually receive, the rent you pay minus 10% of your basic salary, and 50% of basic if you live in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata or Chennai (40% anywhere else). It exists only in the old regime. If your annual rent crosses ₹1 lakh you also need your landlord’s PAN.

Question 7

How much PF is deducted from my salary?

Accepted Answer

Normally 12% of your basic salary is deducted from your pay, and your employer contributes a matching 12%. Employers may instead apply the statutory wage ceiling of ₹15,000 a month, which fixes the contribution at ₹1,800. Your own share leaves your monthly pay but is still your money. It just accumulates in your PF account.

Question 8

What is professional tax?

Accepted Answer

A tax levied by individual states, not the central government. Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and several others charge it; Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan do not. The Constitution caps it at ₹2,500 a year. It is deductible in the old regime but not in the new one.

Question 9

Does the calculator handle variable pay and bonuses?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Variable pay is taxed along with the rest of your salary, but because it usually arrives as a lump sum rather than every month, the monthly in-hand figure excludes it while the annual take-home includes it. Your monthly TDS still reflects tax on the full package, which is how most employers deduct it.

Question 10

What is surcharge and when does it apply?

Accepted Answer

Surcharge is an extra levy on the tax itself for high incomes: 10% above ₹50 lakh, 15% above ₹1 crore and 25% above ₹2 crore. The new regime caps it at 25%; the old regime goes up to 37% above ₹5 crore. Marginal relief ensures that crossing a threshold never costs more in tax than the extra income that crossed it.

Question 11

Can I upload my payslip instead of typing the numbers?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Upload a PDF offer letter or salary slip and the AI reads your salary structure, picking out basic pay, HRA, allowances, provident fund and variable pay, then fills the calculator. It only reports what the document states; the tax itself is computed by the calculator, so the arithmetic is exact. You see what was found and approve it before anything is applied, and the document is not stored. Scanned or photographed payslips cannot be read, because there is no character recognition, so type those in.

Question 12

Does the AI separate fixed pay from CTC?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and this matters more than it sounds. A CTC usually bundles variable pay, the employer provident fund contribution, gratuity and benefits like insurance. Your monthly take-home depends on the fixed part. The reader works out fixed pay from the salary components where the document lists them, falls back to a stated fixed pay or gross figure, and only as a last resort strips variable pay and benefits out of the CTC, telling you which basis it used.

Question 13

Are these numbers exact?

Accepted Answer

They are a close estimate for a salaried individual. Your actual payslip can differ because of employer-specific components, perquisites, income from other sources, mid-year joining, or investment declarations that change during the year. Treat the result as a well-informed projection rather than a tax filing.

Slab	Your income here	Tax
0% ₹0 – ₹4 L	₹4,00,000	₹0
5% ₹4 L – ₹8 L	₹4,00,000	₹20,000
10% ₹8 L – ₹12 L	₹4,00,000	₹40,000
15% ₹12 L – ₹16 L	₹1,24,140	₹18,621
20% ₹16 L – ₹20 L	₹0	₹0
25% ₹20 L – ₹24 L	₹0	₹0
30% ₹24 L – above	₹0	₹0
Total	₹13,24,140	₹78,621

AI In-Hand Salary Calculator FY 2026-27

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