This is not one limit, it is two. One for you and your immediate family, a second and often larger one for your parents. Claiming only the first is the most common and most expensive mistake on this deduction.
Rules checked 20 August 2026. Income-tax Act, 2025, in force 1 April 2026
You have ₹18,000 of the limit unused. Filling it would save a further ₹5,400 at your slab, taking the total to ₹22,500.
Capped at ₹25,000, or ₹50,000 where you or your spouse is 60 or over. ₹3,000 still available.
A separate ₹25,000, rising to ₹50,000 where either parent is 60 or over. Independent of the bucket above. ₹15,000 still available.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Health insurance premium for your family | ₹22,000 |
| Health insurance premium for your parents | ₹35,000 |
| Deductible | ₹57,000 |
Capped at ₹25,000, or ₹50,000 where you or your spouse is 60 or over.
Up to ₹5,000, and it sits inside the bucket above rather than on top
A separate ₹25,000, rising to ₹50,000 where either parent is 60 or over. Independent of the bucket above.
Only where no health policy is in force for them
Section 126 of the Income-tax Act 2025, formerly Section 80D. Available under the old regime only. Under the new regime this deduction is not available at all, which is the first thing to settle before using this page.
Two independent buckets, each with its own ceiling, added together. The first covers premiums for you, your spouse and your dependent children. The second covers premiums for your parents, whether or not they are dependent on you.
Each ceiling is ₹25,000, rising to ₹50,000 where the person insured is 60 or over. So a taxpayer under 60 paying for parents over 60 has ₹25,000 in the first bucket and ₹50,000 in the second, ₹75,000 in total. Where the taxpayer is also over 60, the combined maximum is ₹1,00,000.
A preventive health check-up counts up to ₹5,000, and it sits insidethe relevant ceiling rather than on top of it. Medical expenditure on an uninsured parent aged 80 or over is deductible within the parents’ ceiling.
This deduction is available under the old regime only. Under the new regime the premium is not deductible at all. Since the new regime is the default, that is the first thing to settle.
The tool applies the higher ₹50,000 ceiling to the parents’ bucket and the standard ₹25,000 to your own. If you or your spouse are 60 or over, your own ceiling is ₹50,000 too, and the figure here understates what you can claim.
It does not model premiums paid in cash, which are not deductible at all except for a preventive check-up, or multi-year policies, where the premium is apportioned across the years covered rather than claimed in full in the year paid.
It also has nothing to say about whether your cover is adequate, which is a different and more important question than what it saves you.
No. It is Section 126 from 1 April 2026, when the Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the 1961 Act and renumbered the statute. Section 80C became 123, Section 80D became 126.
The limits, the two-bucket structure and the old-regime-only restriction are all unchanged. Only the number moved.
Up to ₹25,000 for premiums covering you, your spouse and your children, and a separate ₹25,000 for your parents. Either ceiling rises to ₹50,000 where the person insured is 60 or over.
The common case is a taxpayer under 60 paying for parents over 60: ₹25,000 plus ₹50,000, so ₹75,000 in total. Where the taxpayer is also 60 or over, the maximum is ₹1,00,000.
Yes. Unlike several other deductions, the parents’ bucket does not require them to be dependent on you. What matters is that you paid the premium, and that it was not paid in cash. This is the part people most often miss, and on a policy for parents over 60 it is worth up to ₹15,000 of tax at a 30% slab.
It is deductible up to ₹5,000, and it sits within the ceiling rather than in addition to it. So if your family premium is already ₹25,000, a check-up adds nothing. If your premium is ₹20,000, a ₹5,000 check-up takes you to the full ₹25,000. Unusually, this is the one item under this section that can be paid in cash and still claimed.
No, other than a preventive health check-up. Health insurance premiums must be paid by any mode other than cash to qualify, so a bank transfer, a card or a cheque. This catches people who pay a parent’s renewal in cash on their behalf and then find the claim is not available.
Where a parent is 80 or over and no health policy is in force for them, actual medical expenditure is deductible within the parents’ ₹50,000 ceiling. The condition is the absence of cover: if a policy exists, this route is not available and the premium is claimed instead. For families where a parent became uninsurable before cover was arranged, this is a genuinely useful provision that few people know about.
The premium is spread across the years the policy covers rather than claimed in full in the year you paid it. A three-year premium of ₹60,000 gives ₹20,000 of deduction in each of three years, subject to the annual ceiling. Paying multi-year for the discount is often sensible; expecting the whole deduction up front is not.
No, and this is worth saying plainly on a page that computes the tax benefit. Health cover is bought because a hospital admission in a private Indian hospital can cost several lakh, and the deduction is a discount on a thing you should own anyway. Whether your sum insured is adequate is a much more consequential question than what the premium saves you, and the health cover calculator is the page for it.
Section 126 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, in force from 1 April 2026. The limits and the two-bucket structure are unchanged from Section 80D of the 1961 Act.
₹1,00,000, where both the taxpayer and the parents are 60 or over: ₹50,000 in each bucket. The common case of a taxpayer under 60 with parents over 60 gives ₹75,000.
No, it is available under the old regime only. Under the new regime health insurance premiums are not deductible, whatever you pay.
No. The parents' bucket covers your own parents. Premiums paid for parents-in-law do not qualify, even where they are dependent on you.
Only the portion of the premium you actually pay. Where the employer bears the cost there is nothing for you to deduct, and where you pay for additional cover on top of a group policy, that part qualifies.
No. It is arithmetic on the rules in force for FY 2026-27 under the Income-tax Act, 2025. Zenith is an AMFI-registered mutual fund distributor and not a tax practitioner. Insurance is distributed under separate licences held personally by Rajesh Kumar Pancholi.
Talk to the desk
The question worth more of your attention is whether the sum insured would actually cover an admission at the hospital you would want to be in. Bring what you hold and we will look at the cover rather than the premium.
Tax rules shown are those in force for FY 2026-27 under the Income-tax Act, 2025, as checked on 20 August 2026. This is arithmetic on stated rules, not tax advice.
