Deductions and exemptions · Tax Year 2025-26
Section 80D: health insurance deduction
Section 80D lets you deduct health insurance premiums for yourself, your family and your parents. Learn the limits (₹25,000 and ₹50,000), the ₹5,000 for a preventive check-up within them, the ₹1,00,000 overall cap and the regime rule.
On this page
Section 80D lets you deduct what you pay for health insurance from your income. The limit is ₹25,000 for yourself and your family (₹50,000 if a senior citizen is covered) plus ₹25,000 for your parents (₹50,000 if they are senior citizens), with an overall cap of ₹1,00,000. It works only in the old regime.
The limits here are those TaxCare applies for the tax year 2025-26 and are signed off. The tax year 2026-27 carries them forward provisionally; they are not yet signed off against the Income-tax Act, 2025.
From the tax year 2026-27, the Income-tax Act, 2025 carries this deduction in section 126, with the same limits.
The limits
Who the policy covers | Limit |
|---|---|
You, your spouse and children (none a senior citizen) | ₹25,000 |
You, your spouse and children, where you or your spouse is a senior citizen | ₹50,000 |
Your parents (both under 60) | ₹25,000 |
Your parents, where a parent is a senior citizen | ₹50,000 |
Overall total of the above | ₹1,00,000 |
A senior citizen is a resident aged 60 or more at any time during the tax year. A senior citizen who has no health insurance can claim medical expenditure instead, within the same ₹50,000 limit.
Examples
- You are 35, your family has a ₹20,000 policy and your parents (both 65) have a ₹40,000 policy. You can claim ₹20,000 + ₹40,000 = ₹60,000.
- You are 35, you pay ₹30,000 for your family and ₹60,000 for your senior parents. You can claim ₹25,000 + ₹50,000 = ₹75,000.
- You and your parents are all senior citizens and you pay ₹50,000 for yourself and ₹50,000 for them. You can claim ₹1,00,000.
Preventive health check-up
The rules allow up to ₹5,000 spent on a preventive health check-up. It can be paid in cash, and it sits inside the limits above rather than on top of them.
What counts
- Premiums for a health insurance policy for yourself, your spouse, your children and your parents.
- Contributions to the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) or another scheme the government notifies.
- The premium must be paid by a mode other than cash. Only the preventive check-up may be paid in cash.
- For a senior citizen who has no health insurance, medical expenditure may be claimed up to ₹50,000.
Keep the premium receipt or the insurer's certificate. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025 the deduction continues in section 126.
80D and the two regimes
The new regime does not allow 80D. TaxCare's rules keep the caps for a "what if" comparison only.
So 80D only helps if the old regime is cheaper for you overall. On TaxCare's engine, for a salary of ₹15 lakh, claiming ₹25,000 under 80D reduces old regime tax from ₹2,57,400 to ₹2,49,600, a saving of ₹7,800 (30% of ₹25,000 plus 4% cess), but the new regime tax for the same salary is ₹97,500. So 80D alone does not make the old regime better. See is the new tax regime better for you.
Who benefits most
- People with a large family cover and senior parents, since the combined limit reaches ₹1,00,000.
- People who also have large deductions such as home loan interest and NPS, which together can make the old regime cheaper.
- People in the old regime whose tax is at the 30% slab, where each rupee deducted saves the most.
Mistakes to avoid
- Claiming 80D in the new regime. It will not be allowed.
- Claiming the premium of an in-law or sibling. Only you, your spouse, your dependent children and your parents count.
- Claiming more than you paid, or a premium paid by someone else.
- Forgetting the extra limit when your parents are senior citizens.
How TaxCare helps
TaxCare asks about your health insurance premiums and whether your parents are senior citizens, applies the caps for you, and compares the old and new regimes with 80D included. It shows when the deduction does not change the answer. A Tax Expert can help if your case is unusual. See pricing, and old vs new tax regime.
This guide gives general information and is not professional tax advice.
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