Good news for all tax payers who fall in the income bracket of up to 5 Lakhs (old tax regime) or 7 Lakhs (new tax regime)! You can now claim 87A Tax Rebate up to ₹12,500 or ₹25,000 depending if you opted for an old tax regime or new one, respectively. But keep in mind that the deadline for filing the 87A Rebate is January 15th, 2025. Thus, without any further delay, let’s learn how to file 87A Rebate in your Income Tax file online before Jan 15th, 2025.
What is 87A Rebate in simple terms? And Why Should I Claim it Before January 15th, 2025?
In simple terms, if your income lies below the 5L or 7L bracket and for example, you paid ₹5,000 tax on Short Terms Capital Gains (STCG) in the AY24-25 (i.e April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024) then, you can claim the ₹5,000 tax as a rebate** (refund) under the 87A Section until January 15th, 2025. The amount of rebate you can claim (₹12,500 or ₹25,000 depends if you’ve opted for old or new tax regime).
How to File for 87A Rebate in Income Tax (ITR) Step-by-Step Guide
Open the Form ITR 2, click on the “Utility excel based” link (which will show as updated on 4th Jan 2025)
Clicking on the link will download an excel file
Open the downloaded file and visit the “Part B - Total Taxable Income (TTI)/ Tax Liability (TL)” section as shown
Check the row below “Total taxable income” that says “Tax payable”
If you have paid tax here and you are eligible to claim 87A Rebate benefit, you can now manually enter tax rebate amount in the “Rebate under section 87A” row
Once done, validate the excel file by clicking on the “Validate” option
Download the JSON file and upload it on the Income Tax website before January 15th, 2025
Don’t forget to manually edit the tax rebate column in the Excel ITR utility (locate the color-coded, editable cell for tax rebate). Because if you rely on the auto-filled rebate column, the rebate won't account for STCG.
Also note that if you enter any incorrect rebate details, the file will not get validated. For more assistance, you can also take help from your CA/Lawyer OR you may also use tax filing platforms like ClearTax.
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general guidance only. Please consult a tax professional for personalized advice and ensure accuracy when filing your ITR.
So this was all about sharing how you can file 87A Rebate in your ITR online before the last deadline given by the Bombay High Court. What happened was earlier this year, the Income Tax department updated the ITR Utility software but the JSON schema (the logic of the software) remained outdated. Due to this, many tax payers were not able to claim 87A Rebate in their AY24-25 ITR file. Many tax payers also seem to have received tax demand notices due to the same problem. The same is now being fixed and finally, tax payers can now claim their tax refund for the year April 2023 to March 2024).
We hope this article helped you learn how you can easily file the 87A Rebate online on the ITR website before Jan 15th.
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Vrushali is a content & copywriter with 3+ years of exp in writing, researching & ideating content pieces. She writes articles across finance, tech, lifestyle, telecom, online shopping & travel. When not working, you'd find her scribbling designs.