No home loan or HRA? The old tax scheme may not be right for you

livemint.com:

₹7 lakh income, ₹50,000 standard deduction for salaried individuals and lower tax rates. “The government has structured the new scheme in a way that the tax outgo is either low or at par with the old scheme unless the taxpayer is claiming substantial tax deductions and exemptions," he said. For net incomes up to ₹7.5 lakh, the new tax regime is the straightaway choice as you get the tax rebate after claiming the ₹50,000 deduction.

Mint has compiled a break-even amount for different income levels applicable to taxpayers below 60 years of age. If your total tax deductions and exemptions are above the breakeven threshold, the old regime works better for you. For instance, for income of ₹8 lakh, you need to avail deductions and exemptions of over ₹2.13 lakh to be above the threshold.

Similarly, for ₹10 lakh income level, one needs to avail ₹3 lakh worth of tax breaks. Now, this can not be availed with just the standard deduction and the ₹1.5 lakh tax breaks available under the popular section 80C, which contains a wide range of expenses, including tuition fees of up to two children, stamp duty on purchasing a house and term insurance premiums, as well as investments towards provident fund (PF) and Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS). In fact, even if taxpayers in this income bracket claim an additional ₹50,000 deduction from their contributions to the National Pension Scheme or NPS (under Section 80CCD(1B)) along with ₹25,000 towards health insurance premium (under section 80D), they will still fall short by ₹25,000.