No. It is general information worked out from the facts you enter under the Income-tax Act, 2025 as it stands for tax year 2026-27. It shows the rule, the calculation and the assumption separately so you can see which is which, and it says when the inputs cannot settle a point. A decision that turns on your actual position needs a professional who has seen the documents.

Which tax year and which law does it use?

Tax year 2026-27, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, under the Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by the Finance Act, 2026, with the Income-tax Rules, 2026 where a form or procedure is involved. Every threshold and rate sits in one versioned block in the engine's code, and the version is printed on each report.

Where do my figures go?

Nowhere. The questions are answered in your browser, the report is built there, and nothing is sent to this site or to any other service. There is no login, no PAN or Aadhaar field, and nothing is stored unless you print or save the page yourself.

Why does it say "likely" on some results?

Because a yes/no answer or an estimate cannot always settle a legal question: whether Indian income exceeds ₹15 lakh, whether you are liable to tax elsewhere, whether a day count is within a few days of a threshold. The report names what would settle it.

Can it compare the old and new regime with capital gains and house property?

The regime path covers salary, other income, house-loan interest and Chapter VI-A deductions. For capital gains and let-out property alongside, the advance income tax calculator does the full comparison and is linked from the report.

Tax & Money Lab · flagship · v1

Tax Decision Engine: what your situation points to, and what to check next

Pick the decision, answer only the questions it needs, and get a report that separates the law from the arithmetic from the assumptions: your situation, what the rules indicate, the options, the estimated tax under each, the differences in cash flow and compliance, and a checklist of what to do next.

Tax year 2026-27 · Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by the Finance Act, 2026 · reviewed 2026-09-09 · runs in your browser, nothing stored

How the Tax Decision Engine works

Most tax tools start from a form and end at a number. This one starts from a decision. Eight decisions are covered in this first version: choosing between the old and new tax regime; what a bonus, raise or variable pay will cost and whether routing part of it through employer NPS changes that; selling shares, funds or other investments; selling property, as a resident or a non-resident; leaving India, living abroad or returning, and what that does to residential status; starting a business or freelancing; whether a tax-saving investment actually saves tax; and what to do about a tax notice or compliance lapse.

Each decision is a path: a short list of questions, the rules that bear on it, the calculations those rules allow, and a report. The questions are conditional, so a person with no salary is never asked about HRA, and a person of Indian origin is not asked about the carve-out written for citizens. A progress bar shows where you are, every earlier answer can be edited, and the engine never asks for a PAN, an Aadhaar number, a bank account or a name.

The decision-making method

The report is built in a fixed order, because that is the order a careful adviser works in. First, your situation: the facts entered, so the report can be checked against what you meant. Second, what the rules indicate: each statement is labelled as law, calculation, assumption or planning consideration, and every statement of law carries a link to the official text or guidance it rests on. Third, options, usually two, each with its estimated tax, its effect on cash flow, its compliance burden and its timing. Fourth, the estimated tax impact with a before-and-after chart where the decision is numeric. Fifth, the key differences in one table. Sixth, important considerations: the risks, the assumptions made, and the facts the engine did not have. Last, what to do next as a practical checklist, followed by the relevant article on this site, the calculator that goes deeper, the official government source, and the room in the Tax & Money Lab where related tools live.

The arithmetic is done by the same income tax engine that powers the site's calculators, so a figure here matches a figure there: slab tax under each regime, the section 87A rebate and its marginal relief, surcharge with the caps for capital gains, and cess, rounded to the rupee. Residential status is worked out test by test by the NRI calculator's engine under section 6 of the 2025 Act. Every threshold, rate and limit sits in one versioned block of configuration, and the version number is printed on the report, so when a Finance Act changes a figure the change is made once and dated.

Three worked examples

Regime. A salary of ₹16 lakh with no deductions costs ₹1,13,100 under the new regime and ₹2,88,600 under the old. Add ₹3 lakh of HRA exemption, ₹2 lakh of home-loan interest and ₹2.5 lakh of Chapter VI-A deductions, and the old regime falls to ₹75,400 and wins. The report shows both totals and how much deduction it took to flip the answer.
Capital gains. A ₹5 lakh gain on listed shares held 11 months is short-term under section 111A: ₹1,04,000. Held past 12 months, the same gain is long-term under section 112A, the first ₹1.25 lakh exempt and the rest at 12.5%: ₹48,750. The engine says how many months remain and reminds you that the price may not hold.
NRI. A citizen who leaves India for employment in the year and spends 150 days here is non-resident, because the 60-day test is switched off for that case and 182 days is the only test that applies. The same person as a person of Indian origin, not a citizen, would be tested on 60 days plus 365 in the preceding four years, and would be resident.

What it deliberately does not do

It does not give a definitive answer where the law needs facts it cannot see. Where the inputs leave a point open, the result is labelled likely and the report names what would settle it: the exact figure of income other than foreign-source income, whether another country treats you as liable to tax, the dates in a seafarer's discharge certificate. It does not apply tax treaties, model brought-forward losses, or compute relief under section 89 for arrears. It does not store results, and it does not send your figures to any service, AI or otherwise. It is a way of seeing the shape of a decision before you take it to someone who can sign off on it.

Questions people ask

Is this tax advice?: No. It is general information worked out from the facts you enter under the Income-tax Act, 2025 as it stands for tax year 2026-27. It shows the rule, the calculation and the assumption separately so you can see which is which, and it says when the inputs cannot settle a point. A decision that turns on your actual position needs a professional who has seen the documents.
Which tax year and which law does it use?: Tax year 2026-27, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, under the Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by the Finance Act, 2026, with the Income-tax Rules, 2026 where a form or procedure is involved. Every threshold and rate sits in one versioned block in the engine's code, and the version is printed on each report.
Where do my figures go?: Nowhere. The questions are answered in your browser, the report is built there, and nothing is sent to this site or to any other service. There is no login, no PAN or Aadhaar field, and nothing is stored unless you print or save the page yourself.
Why does it say "likely" on some results?: Because a yes/no answer or an estimate cannot always settle a legal question: whether Indian income exceeds ₹15 lakh, whether you are liable to tax elsewhere, whether a day count is within a few days of a threshold. The report names what would settle it.
Can it compare the old and new regime with capital gains and house property?: The regime path covers salary, other income, house-loan interest and Chapter VI-A deductions. For capital gains and let-out property alongside, the advance income tax calculator does the full comparison and is linked from the report.
How is the tax calculated?: By the same engine as the site's income tax calculators: slab tax under each regime, the section 87A rebate and its marginal relief, surcharge with the caps for capital gains, and 4% cess, rounded to the rupee. Residential status uses the NRI calculator's test-by-test engine.

Go deeper on this site

Last reviewed 2026-09-09 against the Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by the Finance Act, 2026, and the Income Tax Department's published guidance. General information, not advice.