Section 80D, 80CCD, 80G: The Deductions Beyond 80C

Last Reviewed and Updated: 17 Aug 2026

Most investors who take tax planning seriously have filled their Section 80C limit long before March arrives. The Rs 1.5 lakh bucket gets distributed between PPF, ELSS, life insurance premiums, and home loan principal repayment without much deliberation. The form goes to the payroll team, TDS is adjusted, and the job feels done.

It is not done. Section 80C is the most visible deduction in Indian tax law, but it is far from the only one. Beyond the Rs 1.5 lakh 80C limit, the old tax regime offers a range of additional deductions that sit in separate sections, have their own limits, and are available for expenditures that many taxpayers already incur.

Health insurance premiums under Section 80D, NPS contributions under Section 80CCD, and eligible donations under Section 80G are the three most widely applicable. Together they can add Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000 or more in additional tax deductions for households that claim them systematically, translating to Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000 in saved tax for a 30 percent bracket taxpayer.

This article covers each of these sections in detail: what qualifies, what the limits are, what the common errors are, and how to ensure the deductions are claimed correctly in the ITR.

A note on section numbers: this article uses the familiar section numbers (80C, 80D, 80CCD, 80G, and so on) because they are what apply to your ITR filing for AY 2026-27, income earned in FY 2025-26, which is still governed by the Income Tax Act, 1961. The Income Tax Act, 2025 has since come into force from 1 April 2026 and renumbers these same deductions (80C becomes Section 123, 80D becomes Section 126, 80CCD(2) becomes Section 124, 80GG becomes Section 134, and so on) with the same limits and eligibility, but that new numbering only takes effect for ITR filings covering Tax Year 2026-27 onwards, expected around July 2027. For your current AY 2026-27 filing, keep using the section numbers in this article.

With the new tax regime having become the default from FY 2023-24, and with successive budgets making it more attractive through lower slab rates and a higher standard deduction, an increasing proportion of taxpayers has migrated to it. For those who have, the deductions in this article are no longer relevant for their tax computation.

But the old regime has not been abolished. For taxpayers with significant deductions, the old regime continues to produce a lower tax liability. A salaried individual in the 30 percent bracket with Section 80C at Rs 1.5 lakh, Section 80D at Rs 50,000, Section 80CCD(1B) at Rs 50,000, and a home loan interest deduction under Section 24(b) at Rs 2 lakh has total deductions of Rs 4.5 lakh or more. At the 30 percent bracket, these deductions shelter Rs 1.35 lakh from tax, which is a meaningful sum that the new regime's lower slab rates do not fully compensate for.

The first step, before reading this article or any tax planning guide, is always to compute your actual tax liability under both regimes with your specific numbers and choose the one that produces the lower figure. The deductions described here are only relevant if you are in the old regime or are deciding whether to stay in it.

Section 80D is the most universally applicable deduction beyond 80C because it is tied to health insurance, something an increasing number of families maintain regardless of tax considerations. The section allows a deduction for premiums paid towards health insurance policies for yourself, your spouse, your dependent children, and your parents.

The deduction structure has two separate components: one for the policyholder's own family (self, spouse, and dependent children) and one for parents (who may be on a separate policy). These two components have separate limits and can be claimed independently.

Component	Who Is Covered	Annual Deduction Limit
Self, spouse, and dependent children	Any combination of self, spouse, and dependent children	Rs 25,000; Rs 50,000 if any member is a senior citizen (60 years or older)
Parents	Father and/or mother (whether dependent on you or not)	Rs 25,000 if parents are below 60; Rs 50,000 if one or both parents are senior citizens
Preventive health check-up (within the above limits)	Self, spouse, dependent children, and parents	Up to Rs 5,000 within the total limit; can be paid in cash (unlike the premium itself)
Maximum total deduction (young family and senior citizen parents)	Self and family below 60; at least one parent aged 60 or above	Rs 25,000 (own family) plus Rs 50,000 (parents) = Rs 75,000 total

The maximum total 80D deduction is Rs 1,00,000 if both the policyholder's family and the parents include senior citizens. This is a ceiling, not a target. The actual deduction is limited to the premium paid, up to the applicable ceiling.

The premium must be paid in a mode other than cash to qualify for the full deduction. Cash payment for regular insurance premiums is not eligible. The Rs 5,000 preventive health check-up component within the limit can be paid in cash, making it a minor exception. Online transfers, cheques, and net banking payments are all eligible.

Several practical points that investors commonly miss or misunderstand:

• GST on the premium is also deductible. The 18 percent GST paid on health insurance premiums is part of the total premium and is therefore included in the deduction calculation. If your annual premium is Rs 30,000 inclusive of GST, you claim Rs 30,000 as the deduction.

• Group health insurance from your employer does not count. The employer pays the group health premium on your behalf, and since you have not paid it yourself, it does not qualify for Section 80D. Many employees assume their employer's group policy generates an 80D deduction for them. It does not.

• You can also claim the premium for a top-up or super top-up policy on top of the base policy, subject to the overall limit.

• The policy must be for a health insurance plan, not a life insurance policy with a critical illness rider. The rider premium may or may not qualify depending on whether it constitutes health insurance; verify with a tax adviser.

• If you pay your parents' health insurance premium, you can claim the deduction even if your parents are not financially dependent on you. Dependence is not a condition for the parents' component of 80D.

A practical illustration: A 35-year-old individual pays Rs 22,000 per year for a health insurance policy covering themselves, their spouse, and two children. They also pay Rs 42,000 per year for a separate policy for their parents, both of whom are over 65. The 80D deduction is Rs 22,000 for the family policy (below the Rs 25,000 ceiling) plus Rs 42,000 for the parents' policy (below the Rs 50,000 senior citizen ceiling) equals Rs 64,000. At a 30 percent tax rate, this saves approximately Rs 19,200 in tax, more than the premium cost of the family policy.

Section 80CCD covers contributions to the National Pension System, and it has three distinct sub-sections with different limits and eligibility conditions. Understanding the difference between 80CCD(1), 80CCD(1B), and 80CCD(2) is one of the most important tax planning insights for working investors.

Section 80CCD(1) allows a deduction for your own contributions to NPS, but the deduction is included within the overall Rs 1.5 lakh limit of Section 80C. In other words, if you have already filled Rs 1.5 lakh through PPF, ELSS, and life insurance, an additional Rs 50,000 NPS contribution under 80CCD(1) does not generate any additional tax benefit. The two limits share the same bucket.

The maximum deduction under 80CCD(1) is 10 percent of salary (for salaried employees) or 20 percent of gross total income (for self-employed individuals). This is a ceiling on the qualifying contribution, not an additional limit beyond 80C.

This is the section that most investors underuse. Section 80CCD(1B) provides an additional deduction of up to Rs 50,000 per year for voluntary contributions to NPS Tier 1, over and above the Rs 1.5 lakh limit under Section 80C. This is a genuinely separate limit: even if your 80C is fully utilised at Rs 1.5 lakh, an additional Rs 50,000 NPS contribution under 80CCD(1B) reduces your taxable income by a further Rs 50,000.

At the 30 percent tax bracket, this additional deduction saves Rs 15,000 in tax. At the 20 percent bracket, it saves Rs 10,000. For a 30 percent taxpayer, the Rs 50,000 contribution costs Rs 35,000 net of tax (Rs 50,000 minus the Rs 15,000 tax saving), and the money goes into a regulated retirement savings vehicle that offers market-linked growth.

The 80CCD(1B) deduction is available under both the old and new tax regimes, but only for voluntary contributions, not for employer contributions. The only NPS-related deduction available under the new tax regime is 80CCD(2), which is employer contributions.

Section 80CCD(1B) is the single most underused tax deduction available to working investors. It offers Rs 50,000 of additional tax-deductible space beyond the Rs 1.5 lakh 80C bucket. At a 30% bracket, it saves Rs 15,000 in tax that most eligible investors leave on the table.

Section 80CCD(2) provides a deduction for contributions made by your employer to your NPS account. This is a separate deduction from both 80C and 80CCD(1B), and it is available under both the old and new tax regimes.

The deduction is capped at 10 percent of basic salary and dearness allowance for central government employees, and at 14 percent of basic salary for central government employees hired from 2019 onwards (the NPS for Government Employees scheme). For private sector employees, the cap is 10 percent of basic salary.

The employer's NPS contribution is not included in the employee's taxable salary because the deduction under 80CCD(2) eliminates it from taxable income. For an employee with a basic salary of Rs 10 lakh, an employer NPS contribution of Rs 1 lakh (10 percent) is deductible under 80CCD(2) and does not form part of taxable income. This is entirely separate from the employee's own 80CCD(1) and 80CCD(1B) claims.

An important practical point: the employer's NPS contribution must actually be made into the NPS account. If your employer offers NPS as a flexi-benefit and you have not opted for it, no deduction is available. Employees who have the option of employer NPS contribution as part of a structured salary should evaluate whether opting for it within the permissible ceiling is tax-efficient, particularly given that 80CCD(2) is available under both tax regimes.

Section	Who Contributes	Limit	Within 80C Limit?	Old Regime Only?
80CCD(1)	Employee/self	10% of salary; maximum included within 80C Rs 1.5 lakh ceiling	Yes	Yes
80CCD(1B)	Employee/self (voluntary additional)	Rs 50,000 per year; separate from 80C	No; separate and additional	Yes (voluntary contributions only)
80CCD(2)	Employer	10% of basic salary (14% for central government employees)	No; entirely separate	No; available under both regimes

Claiming 80CCD deductions requires the correct documentation for each sub-section.

For 80CCD(1B), the contribution must be made to your NPS Tier 1 account. You can make voluntary contributions to your Tier 1 account through the eNPS portal at enps.nsdl.com or through your registered Point of Presence. The transaction receipt and the NPS account statement for the year constitute the documentation. Your PRAN (Permanent Retirement Account Number) and the contribution amount are required when entering the claim in the ITR.

For 80CCD(2), the employer's contribution statement or Form 16 Part B should show the employer NPS contribution separately. This amount is deducted from your gross salary when computing taxable income. Verify that Form 16 correctly reflects this.

The NPS account's own annual consolidated account statement, available from NSDL or KFintech (the NPS RTAs), provides a comprehensive record of all contributions by type (employee voluntary, employer) during the year and is the authoritative document for ITR purposes.

Section 80G allows a deduction for donations made to specified charitable institutions, relief funds, and other qualifying entities. This is the deduction that investors most commonly either miss entirely or claim incorrectly.

The section has two important features that distinguish it from 80C and 80D. First, not all charitable donations qualify: only donations to institutions that have been specifically approved by the income tax department under Section 80G are eligible. A donation to an unregistered charitable trust, however genuine, does not qualify. Second, the deduction rate is either 100 percent or 50 percent of the donation, depending on the recipient institution, and some categories have an additional qualifying limit based on the donor's income.

Category	Deduction Rate	Qualifying Limit on Amount	Examples
Donations to National Relief Funds, PM CARES, and specific national institutions	100% of donation	No limit; entire donation is deductible	National Defence Fund, Prime Minister's National Relief Fund, PM CARES Fund
Donations to state government relief funds and certain approved institutions	100% of donation	No limit on eligible donations to this category	Chief Minister's Relief Fund (varies by state approval)
Donations to other approved charitable institutions (general category)	50% of donation	Subject to 10% of adjusted gross total income limit	Registered NGOs, educational institutions, medical institutions with 80G approval
Donations to approved institutions with 100% deduction but subject to income limit	100% of donation	Subject to 10% of adjusted gross total income limit	Some sports, cultural, and scientific research bodies

The 10 percent qualifying limit for the general categories means that the deductible amount cannot exceed 10 percent of your adjusted gross total income. Adjusted gross total income is your gross total income minus any capital gains, any income under a special rate provision, and the deductions under 80C through 80U. In practice, for most salaried investors, the qualifying limit is 10 percent of salary minus the 80C deduction. Donations above this limit are simply not deductible under 80G, even if made to a qualifying institution.

The donation must be made in a mode other than cash for amounts above Rs 2,000. Cash donations of Rs 2,000 or less may qualify for 80G, but any single donation above Rs 2,000 must be made by cheque, net banking, demand draft, or other non-cash modes to be eligible.

The donee institution must be registered and have a valid 80G approval certificate. The institution should provide you a receipt that states its 80G registration number, PAN, and the date of its registration. This receipt is required documentation for the ITR claim. Many approved institutions now provide a pre-filled Form 10BE (the donor's certificate for 80G purposes), which is the standardised format introduced from FY 2021-22 onwards for institutions that have registered with the portal.

From FY 2021-22, donations to institutions registered with the income tax department are pre-populated in the donor's AIS and the income tax portal's pre-fill data. This means your 80G-eligible donations to registered institutions should appear in your AIS for the year, simplifying the verification and claim process.

For Section 80G, a receipt showing the institution's PAN and 80G registration number is mandatory. A donation to a genuinely charitable cause that lacks a valid 80G certificate is a good deed but not a tax deduction.

Beyond the three featured sections, several other provisions in Chapter VI-A of the Income Tax Act offer deductions that are underutilised by investors who stop their tax planning at Section 80C.

Section 80E allows a deduction for the interest paid on a loan taken for higher education, either for yourself, your spouse, or your children. There is no upper limit on the deduction: the entire interest paid in a year is deductible. The deduction is available for up to 8 consecutive financial years from the year the interest repayment begins, or until the interest is fully repaid, whichever is earlier.

This deduction is available only for the interest component of the EMI, not the principal repayment. The loan must be taken from a financial institution or an approved charitable institution (not from relatives or friends). The education can be at any level of higher education, in India or abroad.

Investors who have taken education loans for their children's undergraduate or postgraduate education and are in the repayment phase often overlook this deduction entirely. At a 30 percent tax bracket, the entire interest paid is sheltered from tax, which can amount to Rs 50,000 to Rs 2,00,000 or more per year for loans on professional courses.

Section 80TTA allows a deduction of up to Rs 10,000 per year on interest earned from savings accounts with banks, cooperative societies, or post offices. This applies to individuals below 60 years of age. The deduction applies to the interest income itself, which is declared in Schedule OS, and then claimed as a deduction under 80TTA.

Section 80TTB is the senior citizen equivalent: individuals aged 60 or above can claim a deduction of up to Rs 50,000 on interest income from savings accounts, fixed deposits, and recurring deposits. Note that 80TTB is not limited to savings account interest like 80TTA; it covers all deposit interest for senior citizens.

Many investors declare their savings account interest in Schedule OS but forget to claim the corresponding 80TTA or 80TTB deduction in Schedule VIA. The result is that they pay tax on Rs 10,000 (or up to Rs 50,000 for senior citizens) of interest income that was legally exempt. This is a small but guaranteed missed deduction for almost every investor with a savings account balance.

Section 80GG provides a deduction for rent paid by individuals who do not receive House Rent Allowance from their employer. This section is commonly overlooked because the more prominent rent deduction, HRA, is in the hands of salaried employees whose employers provide it. But self-employed individuals, those in businesses, and salaried employees whose employers do not offer HRA may claim 80GG if they pay rent.

The deduction under 80GG is the lowest of three amounts: Rs 5,000 per month (Rs 60,000 per year), 25 percent of the adjusted total income, or rent paid minus 10 percent of the adjusted total income. These computations make the actual deduction situationally dependent and require a calculation rather than a flat claim. Form 10BA must be filed with the ITR declaring the rent paid and confirming that no residential accommodation is owned by the taxpayer or their family in the city where they live.

The Full Picture: Maximum Potential Deductions Beyond 80C

Section	Eligible Expenditure	Maximum Deduction	Available Under New Regime?
80D	Health insurance premiums (self/family and parents)	Up to Rs 1,00,000 (if senior citizens on both sides)	No
80CCD(1B)	Voluntary NPS Tier 1 contribution	Rs 50,000 per year	No (only employer contribution under 80CCD(2) is available)
80CCD(2)	Employer's NPS contribution	10% of basic salary (14% for central government)	Yes
80G	Donations to approved charitable institutions	100% or 50% of donation; some categories subject to 10% of income limit	No
80E	Interest on education loan for self, spouse, or children	No upper limit; full interest paid	No
80TTA	Interest on savings account (below 60 years)	Rs 10,000 per year	No
80TTB	Interest on bank deposits (60 years and above)	Rs 50,000 per year	No
80GG	Rent paid (no HRA from employer)	Lowest of: Rs 5,000/month, 25% of income, rent minus 10% of income	No

A salaried individual at the 30 percent bracket who has already used Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C and also claims Rs 50,000 under 80D (family and senior citizen parents together), Rs 50,000 under 80CCD(1B) (NPS voluntary contribution), and Rs 20,000 under 80TTA (savings interest, up to Rs 10,000 limit) has Rs 2.3 lakh in total deductions. The additional Rs 80,000 beyond 80C saves approximately Rs 24,000 in tax. This is money that most investors in this position are simply not claiming.

How to Claim These Deductions in Your ITR-2

All of the deductions discussed in this article are claimed in Schedule VIA of the ITR-2 (or ITR-3 if applicable). The schedule is labelled Deductions under Chapter VI-A and has separate rows for each section.

The process is as follows. In Schedule VIA, locate the row for each applicable section: 80D, 80CCD, 80G, 80E, 80TTA or 80TTB, and any others. Enter the qualifying amount for each. The portal will apply the applicable limits and compute the final deductible amount. The total deductions from Schedule VIA flow into the computation of taxable income in the summary schedule.

For 80G donations to institutions registered on the income tax portal, the qualifying donations may be pre-filled from AIS. For 80D and 80CCD(1B), the amounts must be entered manually based on your records. For 80CCD(2), the employer's contribution should appear in Form 16 and will typically be pre-filled.

Documentation to keep for potential scrutiny: health insurance premium receipts and policy documents for 80D; NPS transaction receipts and PRAN statement for 80CCD(1B); 80G donation receipts with the institution's PAN and registration number; education loan interest certificate from the bank for 80E; savings account passbook or bank statement showing interest for 80TTA.

Common Errors and Oversights

• Claiming 80D for group health insurance provided by the employer: Not eligible. Only premiums paid by the taxpayer themselves qualify.

• Forgetting to claim the senior citizen enhanced limit for parents: If your parents are 60 or above and you pay their health insurance, the limit jumps from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 for that component.

• Treating 80CCD(1B) as part of the 80C bucket: It is a separate, additional limit. Even a taxpayer who has fully used 80C can claim 80CCD(1B) on top of it.

• Donating to an institution without verifying 80G registration: Always confirm registration before making a donation for tax purposes. The income tax portal has a facility to search for registered institutions by name.

• Making large cash donations above Rs 2,000: Cash donations above Rs 2,000 are not eligible for 80G deduction.

• Not filing Form 10BA for Section 80GG: The form is mandatory and the deduction cannot be claimed without it.

• Forgetting 80TTA: Savings account interest is declared in Schedule OS and then deducted under 80TTA in Schedule VIA. Both steps are required. Declaring the interest without claiming the deduction means paying tax on it unnecessarily.

• Using the old regime when the new regime produces a lower tax: Before maximising these deductions, compute the tax under both regimes. If the new regime is better despite these deductions, all the planning effort is misdirected.

Note: The deductions covered in this article are available only under the old tax regime. If you have opted for the new tax regime for AY 2026-27, these deductions do not apply to you, with the exception of Section 80CCD(2) (employer NPS contribution), which remains available under both regimes.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute tax or financial advice. All deduction limits and provisions cited are based on the Income Tax Act, 1961 as applicable for AY 2026-27 under the old tax regime. Tax laws are subject to amendment through Finance Acts and CBDT circulars. Individual deduction eligibility depends on specific facts and circumstances. Please consult a qualified chartered accountant before claiming any deduction.