Here is an interesting fact: you can use a home loan calculator to calculate how many tax benefits you can get if you avail of a home loan.
There are different provisions in the tax law that help you enjoy tax benefits if you get a home loan. How much tax can you save? A home loan calculator can help you gauge that.
What is a home loan calculator?
A home loan calculator solves two purposes:
- Based on various parameters (your gross income from various sources, credit card outstanding and existing obligations) how much loan you can get.
- What is going to be your EMI.
Every financial institution has a home loan calculator. It is not like a standard calculator that gives uniform results no matter where you use it. This calculator is used by a specific financial institution depending on how it calculates the amount of loan it is ready to give (in principle).
Most of the home loan calculators allow you to calculate your monthly EMI because ultimately, this is what most of the loan applicants are interested in. Hence, you may enter the following parameters to use the home loan calculator:
- Loan amount: How much loan you seek.
- Tenure: The number of years you want to return the loan with interest. Some of them ask for the number of EMI’s you are ready to pay (50 months, 60 months, and so on)
- Interest rate: This is the amount of interest you need to pay.
Since it calculates your EMI, many also call it their home loan EMI calculator.
How to calculate tax benefits
You can primarily get tax benefits under three sections of Indian tax law: 88EE, 80C, and 24 sections of the Income Tax Act. These are specifically for those who avail of a home loan. Here are further details:
- Under 88EE, you can get an additional Rs. 50,000 on the payable interest every year.
- You can claim tax deductions of up to Rs. 1.5 lakh on your principal amount, under Section 80C. This also includes stamp duty and registration charges.
- You can further avail a maximum tax reduction of Rs. 2 lakhs on the interest amount under Section 24.
This tax benefit can be doubled if you go for a joint loan – your spouse can be your co-applicant. This way you can both avail the benefits.
Are there any restrictions? Yes, there are. Your total home loan amount should exceed Rs. 35 lakhs in the property value should be under Rs. 50 lakhs.
Conclusion
Not every website has a calculator that also allows you to calculate tax benefits, but with the standard total home loan amount calculator presented by every financial institution offering home loans, you can easily calculate the tax benefits that you can avail of.