Senior Citizens Tax Slabs: tax filing, tax benefits and calculation

Income tax slab for senior citizen in India – An overview

The Union Budget announced by the Government of India every year includes important information for all Indian citizens including their tax liabilities. It also includes information on income tax slabs for senior citizens to be followed for the year. In this writing, we will shed light on the information that you need to file ITR for senior citizens including tax slabs, tax filings, tax benefits, and tax calculations according to the latest income tax laws. Well, before that we need to first understand who is a senior citizen according to the IT regulations.

A senior citizen is defined in IT regulations as someone who is more than 60 years and less than 80 years of age. Citizens who are more than 80 years of age are defined as super senior citizens. All age calculations happen based on the last date of the previous fiscal year.

Income tax slabs for senior citizens

Senior citizen tax slab in the age group of 60-80 years are mentioned here in below:

Old Tax Regime		New Tax Regime u/s 115BAC
Income Tax Slab	Tax Rate	Tax Slab	Income Tax Rate
Up to INR 3,00,000	Nil	Up to INR 2,50,000	Nil
INR 3,00,001 – INR 5,00,000	5% above INR 3,00,000	INR 2,50,001 – INR 5,00,000	5% above INR 2,50,000
INR 5,00,001 – INR 10,00,000	INR 10,000 + 20% above INR 5,00,000	INR 5,00,001 – INR 7,50,000	INR 12,500 + 10% above INR 5,00,000
Above INR 10,00,000	INR 1,10,000 + 30% above INR 10,00,000	INR 7,50,001 – INR 10,00,000	INR 37,500 + 15% above INR 7,50,000
-	-	INR 10,00,001 – INR 12,50,000	INR 75,000 + 20% above INR 10,00,000
-	-	INR 12,50,001 – INR 15,00,000	INR 1,25,000 + 25% above INR 12,50,000
-	-	Above INR 15,00,000	INR 1,87,500 + 30% above INR 15,00,000

Super senior citizens’ tax slab

Income tax slabs for super senior citizens who are more than 80 years old are mentioned herein below:

Old Tax Regime		New Tax Regime u/s 115BAC
Income Tax Slab	Tax Rate	Tax Slab	Income Tax Rate
Up to INR 5,00,000	Nil	Up to INR 2,50,000	Nil
INR 5,00,001 – INR 10,00,000	20% above INR 5,00,000	INR 2,50,001 – INR 5,00,000	5% above INR 2,50,000
Above INR 10,00,000	INR 1,00,000 + 30% above INR 10,00,000	INR 5,00,001 – INR 7,50,000	INR 12,500 + 10% above INR 5,00,000
-	-	INR 7,50,001 – INR 10,00,000	INR 37,500 + 15% above INR 7,50,000
-	-	INR 10,00,001 – INR 12,50,000	INR 75,000 + 20% above INR 10,00,000
-	-	INR 12,50,001 – INR  15,00,000	INR 1,25,000 + 25% above INR 12,50,000
-	-	Above INR 15,00,000	INR 1,87,500 + 30% above INR 15,00,000

Senior citizen income tax calculation

Income tax is liable for the earnings of the citizens with certain exemptions that they may be entitled to, based on the income tax regime that they follow. In the case of senior citizens, the source of income may include salary, pension, rent, interest on their savings, post office scheme, etc. Due to the limited earnings of senior citizens, the income tax limit for senior citizens is higher. From their total earnings, the exemption limit is followed to calculate the taxable income that the senior citizen is liable to pay income tax on. These days, there are various income tax calculators available online, that can provide a real-time view of taxable income.

They also have a column for allowable deductions based on the age range that the senior citizens can claim. As clear from the charts above, both the old and new tax regimes are available to senior citizens, and they can choose one that suits their investment behavior more. In the income tax calculators, the provision to specify the tax regime to calculate the exact tax due. It should be noted that according to the senior citizen IT slab, senior citizens with a yearly income of less than INR 3,00,000 are exempted from paying any income taxes; however, it is recommended that they file their ITR regardless. Most calculators also auto-calculate tax rates for senior citizens once the age of the taxpayer is specified.

Senior citizens’ Income tax filing

Based on the tax calculation for senior citizens, the Income tax return on the earnings can be filed to the income tax department. While the income tax return for senior citizens is an online process, citizens above 80 years of age can also do the offline filing for their ease. Two senior citizen income tax return forms need to be filled out based on the earnings of the person.

ITR 1 

For resident Indian senior citizens below INR 50 lakh income

• Salary or pension
• Income from 1 house property
• Other earning sources.

ITR 2 

For resident Indian senior citizens above INR 50 lakh income

• Salary or pension
• Income from more than 1 house property
• Other earning sources
• Income from a foreign country
• Capital gains
• The income of other individuals (spouse or family member) needs to be combined with their income.

Senior citizen income tax benefits

Apart from lower IT rates for senior citizens, several other benefits are extended to senior citizens when filing their Income tax. Some of these are listed below.

• Regular taxpayer’s basic exemption limit is INR 2,50,000; while, for senior citizens, the basic tax exemption limit is INR 3,00,000
• A senior citizen with income between INR 3,00,000 to 5,00,000 gets a rebate of INR 10,000 under section 87A which makes their income tax-free. If the income exceeds 5,00,000 then it is taxed by the tax slab
• Compared to regular taxpayers who get a standard deduction of INR 25,000 on the interest earned in the fiscal year under Section 80D, senior citizens get a standard deduction of INR 50,000
• Under Section 207 of the Income Tax Act, payment of Advanced Tax is mandatory if the previous fiscal year’s liability exceeds INR 10,000. This is exempted for senior and super senior citizens
• The Income Tax rebate under Section 80DDB for medical treatment of certain diseases for self and dependents can be claimed up to INR 40,000 for regular citizens. This limit is exceeded to INR 1,00,000 for senior and super senior citizens.