Only a short list survives: the ₹75,000 standard deduction on salary or pension, the employer’s NPS contribution under 80CCD(2) (up to 14% of salary), the Agniveer Corpus Fund deduction under 80CCH, the ₹25,000 family-pension deduction, and a few allowances such as transport allowance for a disabled employee, conveyance and uniform. Everything else — 80C, 80D, HRA, LTA, home-loan interest on a self-occupied house, 80TTA/80TTB, 80E, 80G and the rest — is available only if you opt for the old regime.

For individuals, the amounts are almost entirely carried forward. The 80C limit stays ₹1.5 lakh, 80D and 80TTB are unchanged, the standard deduction stays ₹75,000 (new) / ₹50,000 (old), and the 87A rebate stays ₹60,000 up to ₹12 lakh in the new regime. What changes is the section numbering — for example 80C becomes Section 123 and its eligible-investment list moves to Schedule XV. Each page here shows both the old and the new reference.

This is proposed, not settled. The draft Income-tax Rules, 2026 raise the meal-voucher value to ₹200 per meal and the employer-gift limit to ₹15,000, and the prevailing professional reading is that these perquisite concessions can be used under the new regime because there is no rule denying them. Until the Rules are finally notified by the CBDT, treat these as proposed. For FY 2025-26 the older ₹50-per-meal and ₹5,000-gift limits apply.

The exemption itself is unchanged — fare for two journeys within a four-year block, and it remains available only in the old regime. What changes from FY 2026-27 is the paperwork: Form 124 replaces Form 12BB, actual travel proof (tickets, boarding passes, payment confirmation) becomes mandatory, and road travel is proposed to be capped at about ₹30 per kilometre. So it is a documentation tightening, not a change in the benefit.

Yes, in the old regime you can claim both in genuine situations — for example, you live in a rented home in one city (claiming HRA) while owning and repaying a loan on a house elsewhere, or the owned house is let out. The home-loan interest under Section 24(b) and the principal under 80C are separate from the HRA exemption. Both belong to the old regime; the new regime allows neither on a self-occupied house.

It depends on how many of these deductions you actually claim. The new regime gives lower slab rates but almost no deductions; the old regime has higher rates but lets you claim 80C, 80D, HRA, home-loan interest and the rest. As a rule of thumb, the more deductions you have (typically once they cross roughly ₹3.5–4 lakh in total), the more likely the old regime wins. Use our income-tax and regime tools to compare your own figures, and file Form 10-IEA if you opt for the old regime.