Salaried in Satellite with a home loan, HRA and a full 80C — old or new regime?
This is the most common Satellite question and the answer has flipped since FY 2025-26. Under the new regime the Section 87A rebate makes income up to ₹12 lakh tax-free — ₹12.75 lakh for salaried people after the ₹75,000 standard deduction — and the slabs above that are gentler. The old regime only pulls ahead when the deductions are large: typically ₹2 lakh of home-loan interest plus a full ₹1.5 lakh under 80C plus a meaningful HRA claim, on a salary well above ₹15 lakh. We compute both before filing rather than assume, because a Satellite salary with a Prahladnagar-sized rent and a Shyamal-sized home loan can land on either side of the line.
Old vs new regime, worked out