The income tax rebate under Section 87A is one of the most direct tax relief measures available to resident individual taxpayers in India. Under the new tax regime for FY 2025-26, eligible individuals with a total taxable income of up to Rs. 12 lakh pay zero income tax — because a rebate of Rs. 60,000 fully cancels out the tax liability at that income level. Under the old regime, the corresponding rebate is Rs. 12,500, covering individuals with taxable income up to Rs. 5 lakh.
This rebate applies to the total tax computed before the addition of health and education cess at 4%. It's not a deduction — it's a direct reduction in the tax you owe after the slab-rate calculation is complete.
For taxpayers whose income sits just above Rs. 12 lakh under the new regime, marginal relief under Section 87A ensures that the tax burden doesn't exceed the actual surplus income above that threshold.
Section 87A is a targeted relief provision, not a blanket exemption. It's designed specifically for middle and lower-income resident individuals — those whose earnings fall within the prescribed limits under their chosen tax regime.
The rebate is applied against the tax computed on total income as per the applicable slab rates. Once computed, it reduces the tax payable to zero where the rebate equals or exceeds the liability. Cess is then calculated on whatever tax remains — if the rebate wipes out the tax entirely, no cess is charged either.
Two things the rebate does not cover: surcharge and the tax on certain capital gains categories. More on those in the exclusions section below.
Only resident individuals qualify for the Section 87A rebate. This means:
The taxable income ceiling differs by regime:
The rebate amount is capped at whichever is lower — either the statutory maximum (Rs. 60,000 or Rs. 12,500) or the actual tax payable before cess. A taxpayer whose tax liability happens to be Rs. 45,000 under the new regime receives a rebate of Rs. 45,000, not Rs. 60,000.
For AY 2026-27 (income earned in FY 2025-26), the new regime offers a rebate ceiling of Rs. 60,000. Any resident individual with taxable income at or below Rs. 12 lakh carries zero final tax liability. The rebate cannot exceed the actual tax computed before cess under any circumstance.
Under the old regime for the same assessment year, the rebate ceiling stands at Rs. 12,500. Taxable income up to Rs. 5 lakh is effectively tax-free as a result. The same ceiling rule applies — the rebate is limited to actual tax payable before cess.
Claiming the rebate doesn't require a separate application or supporting document. The process is embedded within the standard ITR filing workflow:
The Section 87A rebate cannot be set off against tax arising from the following income categories:
Long-term capital gains under Section 112A. Gains from listed equity shares and equity-oriented mutual funds held beyond one year are taxed at a flat rate. The rebate cannot be applied against this tax liability — even if total income falls within the Rs. 12 lakh threshold.
Short-term capital gains under Section 111A. Gains from listed securities held for less than 12 months attract a flat tax rate and are similarly excluded from the rebate's scope.
Special-rate incomes. Winnings from lotteries, game shows, crossword puzzles, and similar sources are taxed at flat rates specified under the Act. These liabilities sit outside the rebate's reach.
The reason for these exclusions is structural: Section 87A is calibrated against slab-rate tax. Income taxed at special or concessional flat rates operates outside the slab framework, so the rebate mechanism doesn't apply to them.
The provisions of Section 87A have been recodified under Section 156 of the Income Tax Act, 2025. This is worth knowing — but it doesn't affect how most taxpayers file for FY 2025-26.
Since the new Act comes into force from 1st April 2026, income earned during FY 2025-26 falls entirely within the ambit of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Taxpayers filing returns for AY 2026-27 should reference the 1961 Act's provisions, not the 2025 recodification. This transition is a genuine source of confusion, and it's important to flag: the section number has changed, but the substantive rules haven't.
Without marginal relief, a taxpayer earning Rs. 12,10,000 would face a full tax liability on that income — while someone earning exactly Rs. 12,00,000 pays nothing. The tax jump would exceed the extra Rs. 10,000 earned. That outcome is plainly unfair, and marginal relief under Section 87A addresses it directly.
The principle is straightforward: when the tax computed on income slightly above Rs. 12 lakh exceeds the amount by which that income surpasses Rs. 12 lakh, the excess tax is waived. The taxpayer pays only the surplus income — nothing more.
Step 1: Calculate the excess: Total income minus Rs. 12 lakh = Excess income (A)
Step 2: Compute total tax liability on the full income before cess (B)
Step 3: If B exceeds A, the rebate under Section 87A = B minus A
Rebate Calculation:
Final Tax Computation:
The final liability of Rs. 15,600 reflects exactly what Mr. Ravi earned above Rs. 12 lakh — plus cess. Marginal relief ensures the tax doesn't punish him for crossing the threshold by a modest margin.
No — Section 87A is available exclusively to individuals who qualify as resident Indians under the Income Tax Act. Non-resident Indians fall outside this eligibility entirely, regardless of the amount of income they earn in India. If you're uncertain about your residential status for a given financial year, it's worth verifying under the criteria laid out in Section 6 before filing. Residential status is determined year by year, so it can change.
No. The rebate under Section 87A applies only to individuals — not to Hindu Undivided Families, partnership firms, companies, or any other tax entity. If a HUF has taxable income below Rs. 12 lakh, it still carries a full tax liability — there's no equivalent rebate available to it under any provision currently in force.
Partially. The rebate can be set off against tax on long-term capital gains that are computed at slab rates. It cannot, however, be applied against LTCG taxed under Section 112A — that is, gains from listed equity shares or equity-oriented mutual funds. Short-term capital gains under Section 111A are excluded on the same basis. When computing your rebate entitlement, separate your special-rate income from your slab-rate income before applying Section 87A.
When income crosses Rs. 12 lakh by a small margin, the tax computed can sometimes exceed the additional amount earned above that level. In that case, the rebate is adjusted so that the final tax equals the excess income — not the gross tax liability. For instance, a taxpayer with income of Rs. 12.15 lakh and a raw tax of Rs. 62,250 pays only Rs. 15,000 in tax after marginal relief, plus cess. The ITR portal typically handles this automatically, but manually cross-checking the calculation before submission is a sensible step.
A deduction reduces your taxable income before any tax is computed — it operates at the income stage. A rebate reduces the actual tax owed after the computation is done — it operates at the liability stage. Deductions are available under many sections of the Act (80C, 80D, 80G, and others); the Section 87A rebate is a single provision available only to eligible resident individuals within specified income limits. The two mechanisms are not interchangeable and serve different purposes in a taxpayer's overall planning.
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