80C Tracker

The Section 80C ceiling is Rs 1,50,000 a year, and most salaried clients already use up part of it through EPF, life insurance and tuition fees without realising. Pull your salary slip to see the EPF employee share, add LIC premiums paid, school fees of two children, and home loan principal repaid in the year. Subtract that total from Rs 1.5 lakh, and the gap is what you can still park in PPF, ELSS, NSC or 5-year FD before 31 March. Investing more than Rs 1.5 lakh gives no extra deduction - the excess is wasted.

Yes, the employee's 12% contribution to EPF is fully eligible under 80C. The employer's matching 12% does not qualify, since it is not paid out of your taxable salary. Check your salary slip - the EPF figure shown as a deduction is what you can claim. Many clients see Rs 30,000 to Rs 90,000 a year already going there, leaving little headroom for fresh PPF or ELSS investments. Voluntary Provident Fund contributions also fall under 80C. Just remember, in the new tax regime 80C is unavailable, so the EPF deduction is purely informational there.

Yes, both qualify under 80C, but the combined ceiling is still Rs 1.5 lakh. Tuition fees are eligible only for full-time courses in Indian institutions, for up to two children, and only the tuition component - not transport, donations or development fees. Home loan principal repayment shown in your bank certificate also counts, along with stamp duty and registration paid in the year of purchase. If you have both, they often exhaust the limit on their own. Add EPF on top and there is usually no need for fresh ELSS or PPF investment to fill the bucket.

Among 80C instruments, ELSS mutual funds have the shortest lock-in at 3 years, which is why I usually suggest them to clients chasing tax saving plus equity returns. Tax-saver bank FDs and NSC come next at 5 years. Senior Citizens Savings Scheme is also 5 years. PPF runs 15 years with partial withdrawal after year 7. EPF and NPS lock in till retirement. Sukanya Samriddhi runs till the daughter turns 21. So if liquidity matters, ELSS first, then 5-year FD or NSC. PPF if you want long-term debt allocation in your portfolio.

Yes, stamp duty and registration charges paid for purchasing a residential house are deductible under Section 80C, but only in the financial year in which they are actually paid. The deduction is part of the same Rs 1.5 lakh ceiling, not over and above it. So if you bought a flat this year and paid Rs 4 lakh towards stamp duty plus registration, you can claim only enough to fill your unused 80C space. Keep the registered sale deed and stamp duty receipt - the assessing officer asks for it during scrutiny if your claim is large.

Absolutely. Section 80C has no internal sub-limit between instruments - the only ceiling is Rs 1.5 lakh in total. Many clients put Rs 50,000 into PPF for safety, Rs 50,000 into ELSS for equity exposure, and use the rest on a term insurance premium. The mix should reflect your existing portfolio and risk profile, not just tax saving. Just be careful about double-counting - EPF, life premium, tuition and home loan principal are also inside the same Rs 1.5 lakh, so check what is already going there before committing fresh money this March.

Before March-end, list every paid item that already qualifies under 80C: EPF employee share, LIC and term insurance premiums, ULIP, ELSS bought in the year, PPF deposits, NSC, Sukanya Samriddhi, tuition fees for two children, home loan principal in the bank certificate, stamp duty if bought in the year, and 5-year tax-saver FD. Add them up. Subtract from Rs 1,50,000. The balance is your unused space. If filing happens after 31 March, you can no longer top it up - the cut-off is 31 March of the financial year, not the ITR filing date.