Income tax on ₹8 lakh salary in FY 2026-27: new regime slab working

An ₹8 lakh salary sits well inside the new regime's rebate zone, but the working still matters: it shows why the tax comes out the way it does, and how far your salary can grow before that changes. This post does the sum line by line for tax year 2026-27 (FY 2026-27), shows what is left after PF, and compares ₹10, ₹12, ₹12.75, ₹13 and ₹15 lakh.

Here, ₹8 lakh means your gross salary for the year: the total on your payslips or Form 130 (earlier Form 16), before PF and tax. It is not your CTC. If ₹8 lakh is your CTC, the gross is lower, because the employer's PF and gratuity sit inside the CTC.

Step 1: taxable income

Under the new regime a salaried person gets a standard deduction of ₹75,000 (Income-tax Act, 2025, section 19, Table Sl. No. 2; earlier section 16(ia)). Most other deductions, such as section 123 (old 80C) and HRA, are not allowed in this regime. So taxable income = ₹8,00,000 − ₹75,000 = ₹7,25,000.

Source: Income-tax Act, 2025, section 19 (Table, Sl. No. 2): ₹75,000 standard deduction when tax is computed under section 202(1)

Step 2: tax on the slabs

The new regime slabs for tax year 2026-27 are in section 202(1) of the 2025 Act (earlier section 115BAC(1A)): nil up to ₹4 lakh, 5% from ₹4 to 8 lakh, 10% from ₹8 to 12 lakh, 15% from ₹12 to 16 lakh, 20% from ₹16 to 20 lakh, 25% from ₹20 to 24 lakh and 30% above ₹24 lakh. The new regime is the default; you have to opt out to use the old one.

Source: Income-tax Act, 2025, section 202(1): new regime slab table (earlier section 115BAC(1A))

Step 3: the rebate and cess

Section 156(2)(a) of the 2025 Act (earlier section 87A) gives a resident individual taxed under the new regime a rebate of the full tax, up to ₹60,000, when total income is ₹12 lakh or less. At ₹7,25,000 of taxable income the slab tax is ₹16,250, well under ₹60,000, so the rebate removes all of it. Cess is 4% of the tax after rebate, and 4% of zero is zero.

Source: Income-tax Act, 2025, section 156(2): rebate up to ₹60,000 for income up to ₹12 lakh, and marginal relief above it (earlier section 87A)

Source: Income Tax Department: Tax rates (4% health and education cess)

Two points on the rebate. It is for residents only; a non-resident with an ₹8 lakh salary pays the ₹16,250 plus cess, ₹16,900 in all. And the ₹12 lakh limit is on total income, so other income counts. ₹50,000 of FD interest on top of the ₹8 lakh salary takes taxable income to ₹7,75,000. That is still well under the limit.

What you keep after PF

With no income tax, the main deduction from an ₹8 lakh gross is your own PF. Assume basic pay is half the gross (₹4,00,000 a year) and PF is 12% of basic. That is ₹48,000 a year, or ₹4,000 a month. The rest, ₹7,52,000 a year, is about ₹62,667 a month in hand.

• Professional tax: in states that charge ₹200 a month, the year's take-home drops to ₹7,49,600 (about ₹62,467 a month). The amount varies by state.
• PF on the wage ceiling: some employers pay PF only on the ₹25,000 wage ceiling, which makes your PF ₹3,000 a month and your take-home higher.
• Employee PF gets no tax deduction under the new regime. At ₹8 lakh that does not matter, because there is no tax to reduce.

How ₹8 lakh compares with ₹10 to ₹15 lakh

₹12.75 lakh is the last salary with no tax: ₹12,75,000 − ₹75,000 is exactly ₹12 lakh of taxable income. One rupee more and the full rebate goes. Without help, tax would then jump from nil to over ₹60,000.

Marginal relief under section 156(2)(b) stops that jump. Above ₹12 lakh, your tax cannot be more than the income above ₹12 lakh. At ₹13 lakh salary, taxable income is ₹12,25,000, ₹25,000 over the line. The slabs say ₹63,750, but the tax is capped at ₹25,000, plus ₹1,000 cess: ₹26,000. The relief runs out at about ₹12,70,588 of taxable income (about ₹13.46 lakh of salary). From there the normal slab tax is the lower figure, so the slabs apply in full, as in the ₹15 lakh row.

Old regime at ₹8 lakh

The old regime has a ₹50,000 standard deduction, a ₹2.5 lakh basic exemption below age 60, and a rebate only up to ₹5 lakh of taxable income. On ₹8 lakh, with ₹1.5 lakh under section 123 (old 80C) and nothing else, taxable income is ₹6,00,000 and the tax is ₹33,800 with cess. You would need ₹2.5 lakh of deductions, beyond the standard deduction, to bring the old regime down to nil. At this salary the new regime is hard to beat.

General information for a resident individual's salary in tax year 2026-27, not tax advice. Check your own figures in the income tax calculator or the Excel sheet.