SalaryDecode

Updated for FY 2026-27

In-Hand Salary Calculator (CTC to Take-Home)

Tax regime
Monthly in-hand salary

₹94,277

Basic salary
₹40,000
HRA
₹20,000
Special allowance
₹36,277
Gross cash salary
₹96,277
Income tax
₹0
Employee PF
₹1,800
Professional tax
₹200

Employer PF ₹1,800 and gratuity provision ₹1,923 are part of your CTC but never reach your bank account.

  • In-hand: ₹11,31,323
  • Income tax: ₹0
  • Employee PF: ₹21,600
  • Professional tax: ₹2,400

Estimate only. Not tax or financial advice. Figures depend on your employer's exact structure — consult a CA for decisions. Updated for FY 2026-27.

How your CTC actually decomposes

CTC — cost to company — is the total amount your employer budgets for you in a year. It is not your salary. A standard Indian salary structure splits CTC into five parts:

  • Basic salary, usually 40–50% of CTC. Every other component is calculated from it, which is why the slider above changes all the numbers.
  • House rent allowance (HRA) — typically 50% of basic in a metro (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai) and 40% elsewhere.
  • Employer PF contribution — 12% of basic (often computed on the ₹15,000 per month statutory ceiling, i.e. ₹1,800 a month). This goes directly into your EPF account. It never reaches your bank, even though it inflates the CTC figure.
  • Gratuity provision — roughly 4.81% of basic, set aside under the Payment of Gratuity Act. You can only claim it after five years of continuous service, so this too never appears in a payslip credit.
  • Special allowance — the balancing figure that absorbs whatever is left.

Your gross cash salary is basic + HRA + special allowance. From that, three deductions produce your in-hand amount: income tax (TDS), your own 12% employee PF contribution, and state professional tax. In short: in-hand = gross cash − income tax − employee PF − professional tax.

Worked example: ₹12 lakh CTC, step by step

Take a ₹12,00,000 CTC in Bengaluru (Karnataka, metro) with 40% basic, PF on the statutory ceiling, under the new regime — the calculator's default setup.

  • Basic salary: ₹4,80,000 (40% of CTC)
  • HRA: ₹2,40,000 (50% of basic, metro)
  • Employer PF: ₹21,600 (12% of the ₹1,80,000 annual ceiling) — stays in EPF
  • Gratuity provision: ₹23,077 — stays with the employer until year five
  • Special allowance: ₹4,35,323 (the balance)

Gross cash salary = ₹4,80,000 + ₹2,40,000 + ₹4,35,323 = ₹11,55,323. Taxable income after the ₹75,000 standard deduction is ₹10,80,323 — under ₹12 lakh, so the §87A rebate wipes out the entire ₹48,032 of slab tax: income tax is ₹0. Subtract the employee PF of ₹21,600 and Karnataka professional tax of ₹2,400, and the annual in-hand is ₹11,31,323 — a monthly take-home of ₹94,277. Notice the gap: ₹12,00,000 ÷ 12 would suggest ₹1,00,000 a month, but ₹44,677 a year sits in PF and gratuity, and ₹24,000 goes to your own PF and professional tax.

In-hand salary for common CTCs (FY 2026-27)

All rows assume the defaults above: new regime, Karnataka, metro, 40% basic, PF on the statutory ceiling. Use the calculator to match your exact structure.

Annual CTCIncome taxMonthly in-handAnnual in-hand
₹5 LPA₹0₹37,065₹4,44,785
₹8 LPA₹0₹61,585₹7,39,015
₹10 LPA₹0₹77,931₹9,35,169
₹12 LPA₹0₹94,277₹11,31,323
₹15 LPA₹89,630₹1,11,327₹13,35,924
₹20 LPA₹1,79,908₹1,44,669₹17,36,030
₹25 LPA₹3,00,384₹1,75,495₹21,05,939
₹30 LPA₹4,51,060₹2,03,804₹24,45,648

Two things stand out in the table. First, up to a ₹12 lakh CTC the income tax column is ₹0 — the ₹75,000 standard deduction keeps taxable income under the ₹12 lakh §87A rebate limit. Second, the effective tax rate climbs gently rather than jumping: at ₹15 LPA it is about 6% of CTC, at ₹30 LPA about 15%. Slab rates only apply to the income inside each slab, and just above ₹12 lakh a marginal-relief proviso prevents any cliff — see the FAQ below for the ₹13 lakh example, where this calculator differs from the official Basic Calculator (and why ours follows the letter of the proviso).

Frequently asked questions

Why is my in-hand salary so much lower than my CTC?
CTC (cost to company) is everything your employer spends on you, not what lands in your bank. It includes the employer's PF contribution and a gratuity provision — money set aside for your retirement and long-term benefits that you never see in a monthly payslip. From the remaining cash salary, income tax, your own 12% PF contribution, and state professional tax are deducted before the balance is credited. A typical ₹12 lakh CTC pays about ₹94,000 a month in hand under the new regime, roughly 94% of the naive CTC ÷ 12 figure — and the gap widens as income and tax rise.
Why is my tax not huge just above ₹12 lakh? — marginal relief explained
Under the new regime for FY 2026-27, the §87A rebate makes tax zero when taxable income is up to ₹12,00,000. Just above that line, a proviso called marginal relief applies: your tax is capped at the amount by which your taxable income exceeds ₹12,00,000, so earning ₹1 more can never cost you thousands in tax. Worked example: a gross salary of ₹13,00,000 gives taxable income of ₹12,25,000 after the ₹75,000 standard deduction. Plain slab tax on that is ₹63,750, but marginal relief caps it at ₹25,000 (the income above ₹12 lakh), plus 4% cess = ₹26,000 total. Note that the Income Tax Department's official Basic Calculator omits this proviso and shows ₹66,300 for the same input — this calculator applies the marginal-relief proviso as written in the law, which is why our figure is ₹26,000.
Which tax regime does this calculator use by default?
The new regime, because it has been the legal default since FY 2023-24 — it applies automatically unless you opt out with your employer. Under the new regime this calculator applies the ₹75,000 standard deduction, the FY 2026-27 slab rates, the §87A rebate with marginal relief, surcharge, and 4% cess. Toggling to the old regime applies the ₹50,000 standard deduction, old slabs, and counts your employee PF toward the §80C cap; entering your annual rent also applies the HRA exemption — the least of actual HRA, rent minus 10% of basic, and 50% (metro) or 40% (non-metro) of basic. Other declared deductions, like additional §80C investments, are not included in this simplified view.
What is professional tax and why does it change with the state I pick?
Professional tax is a small state-level tax on employment, deducted monthly by your employer and capped at ₹2,500 per year by the Constitution. Each state sets its own slabs: Karnataka charges ₹200 per month once monthly gross crosses ₹25,000, Maharashtra charges ₹200 per month with ₹300 in February, Tamil Nadu and Kerala assess it half-yearly, and states like Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan levy no professional tax at all. That is why moving the state dropdown changes your in-hand by up to about ₹208 a month.
Do employer PF and gratuity count in my in-hand salary?
No. The employer's 12% PF contribution goes straight into your EPF account, and the gratuity provision is an accounting reserve you can only receive after five years of continuous service. Both are genuine long-term value, but neither ever appears in your bank account during the year — which is exactly why two offers with the same CTC can pay very different monthly amounts depending on how much of the CTC is parked in these components.
Is my salary data stored or sent anywhere?
No. Every calculation runs entirely inside your browser using JavaScript — there is no server, no database, and no analytics on your inputs. Nothing you type is transmitted, stored, or logged, and reloading the page clears everything. You can verify this yourself: open your browser's developer tools, watch the network tab while you use the calculator, and you will see zero requests carrying your numbers.

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