Income Tax

Section 80GG: Claim Rent Deduction Even If You Don't Get HRA

CA Nikhil Gupta·June 2026·6 min readDEDUCTIONS GUIDE

Reviewed by CA Nikhil Gupta · Last reviewed 17 June 2026

If you're self-employed, or salaried but your employer doesn't pay you HRA (House Rent Allowance), you might assume you get no tax benefit for the rent you pay every month. Section 80GG exists precisely for this gap — but it comes with a low cap, strict conditions, and a mandatory declaration form that's easy to overlook. Here's how it works.

Who Can Claim Section 80GG?

Section 80GG provides a deduction for rent paid, available to individuals who satisfy ALL of the following conditions:

The individual, their spouse, or minor child does NOT own residential accommodation at the place where they currently reside, work, or carry on business
If the individual owns a house at any other place, that property must not be claimed as 'self-occupied' (i.e., it should be treated as deemed-let-out or actually let out) for the purpose of computing income from house property
The individual does NOT receive HRA (House Rent Allowance) as part of their salary at any time during the year — this is the key condition that distinguishes 80GG claimants from those who claim regular HRA exemption
The individual must file Form 10BA declaring the rent paid

Related Calculator

Rent Deduction Calculator — Section 80GG and Form 10BA

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How Much Can You Claim?

The 80GG deduction is the LEAST of the following three amounts:

₹5,000 per month (₹60,000 per year)
25% of the taxpayer's total income (before allowing this deduction)
Actual rent paid minus 10% of total income

⚠ The ₹5,000/month cap (₹60,000/year) has remained unchanged for a long time and is often the binding constraint — for most taxpayers paying market rents in metro cities, this cap (rather than the 25%-of-income or rent-minus-10%-of-income formulas) ends up being the limiting factor, making the actual benefit relatively modest compared to the HRA exemption available to salaried employees who do receive HRA.

Worked Example

Form 10BA: The Mandatory Declaration

To claim Section 80GG, you must file Form 10BA (a declaration, filed electronically along with or before the ITR) confirming:

The rent paid during the year and to whom
That neither you, your spouse, nor minor child owns residential accommodation at the place of residence/employment/business
That you haven't claimed self-occupied property benefit for any other house you may own elsewhere

Salaried Employees: When Does 80GG Apply Instead of HRA?

Situation	Applicable Benefit
Salary includes HRA component, employee pays rent	HRA exemption under Section 10(13A) (generally more beneficial)
Salary does NOT include HRA (e.g., consolidated CTC structure with no separate HRA line item), employee pays rent	Section 80GG (if other conditions met)
Self-employed/freelancer/professional paying rent for residence	Section 80GG (if other conditions met)

Old Regime vs New Regime

Section 80GG deduction is NOT available under the new tax regime. It can only be claimed under the old regime.

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Compare your tax with and without the 80GG deductionSee whether the old regime with 80GG works out better for you.

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Frequently Asked Questions

I'm a salaried employee and my CTC includes HRA, but I forgot to claim it during the year — can I claim Section 80GG instead while filing my ITR? ▼

No. Section 80GG is available only if you do NOT receive HRA as part of your salary structure AT ALL during the relevant period. If your salary structure includes an HRA component (even if you didn't submit rent receipts to your employer to claim the exemption during the year), you are not eligible for Section 80GG — you would instead need to claim the HRA exemption under Section 10(13A) directly in your ITR, recomputing your taxable salary accordingly, rather than using 80GG.

I own a house in my hometown but live on rent in another city for work — can I claim Section 80GG? ▼

Possibly, but it depends on how the house in your hometown is treated. One of the conditions for Section 80GG is that you (or your spouse/minor child) should not own residential accommodation at the place where you reside for work — owning a house elsewhere doesn't automatically disqualify you. However, if you treat that other house as 'self-occupied' for income tax purposes (i.e., claim it has nil annual value as a self-occupied property), you generally cannot claim 80GG. If instead you treat it as let-out or deemed let-out (offering its notional/actual rental income to tax), 80GG may be available. This interplay should be checked carefully, ideally with a CA.

What's the maximum I can realistically save under Section 80GG? ▼

The deduction is capped at the LEAST of three amounts: ₹60,000/year (₹5,000/month), 25% of total income, or actual rent minus 10% of total income. For most taxpayers paying significant rent in cities, the ₹60,000/year cap tends to be the binding limit. At a 30% tax slab, a ₹60,000 deduction translates to roughly ₹18,720 of tax saved (including cess) — a modest but still worthwhile benefit, especially for freelancers and consultants with no other rent-related tax benefit available.

Source and review trail

Use the current official instrument, portal or regulator publication before acting. This panel separates the category authority from page-specific references.

Primary category: Income Tax
Official starting point: www.incometax.gov.in

Page source links

The prior page did not embed a page-specific external source. The category authority above is the minimum verification starting point; a specific instrument should be added when available.

Primary sources & related provisions

Statutory provisions referenced in this guide:

Section 10 - Income-tax Act