Budget 2026 has kept the income‑tax slabs for FY 2026‑27 unchanged, so an income‑tax calculator Excel sheet built last year for the new regime still works without any change in its bands. Many individuals who made such sheets for FY 2025‑26 now find that they can reuse same files again.
According to data from CA Club India, the new tax regime has seven slabs. Tax is zero for income up to Rs 4 lakh, and it rises to 5% in the next band, and goes up to 30% on income exceeding Rs 24 lakh.
For salaried people, the tax sheet still shows a standard deduction of Rs 75,000, unchanged for FY 2026‑27. The tax is calculated on the slab rates after this deduction is subtracted from the salary, and then a 4% cess is added on that amount.
Rebate cliff and test values
For resident individuals, the rebate of Rs 60,000 under Section 87A of the old Act removes the entire slab tax on taxable income up to Rs 12 lakh. According to TaxAtlas data, a salaried person earning a gross income of up to Rs 12.75 lakh will owe no tax under the new regime.
Just above Rs 12 lakh, a marginal relief caps the tax at the amount by which income exceeds that threshold. According to CA Club India data, this relief zone goes up to about Rs 12.71 lakh, and many spreadsheet builders are testing this edge first.
Rupaywise data provides the cumulative tax amount at the top of every slab, and these numbers are being used as test values for the formulas.
- Rs 20,000 at Rs 8 lakh
- Rs 60,000 at Rs 12 lakh
- Rs 1.2 lakh at Rs 16 lakh
- Rs 2 lakh at Rs 20 lakh
- Rs 3 lakh at Rs 24 lakh
What simple sheets often miss
A lot of basic sheets end just at the slab tax, but you have to add that 4% cess on the final amount, and some builders are omitting this line altogether. The rebate under Section 87A of the old Act does not apply to NRIs, even though they are taxed at the same slab rates as residents.
Sheets that carry the old regime need different inputs. Axis Max Life Insurance data shows the basic exemption limit stays at Rs 2.5 lakh for individuals below 60 years, and the old regime rebate has no marginal relief, so it disappears fully once taxable income crosses Rs 5 lakh.
Return filing threshold equals the Rs 4 lakh basic exemption limit, and it is separate from the rebate limit, says CA Akhilesh Kumar on his website.
