House Rent Allowance exemption u/s 10 (13A)

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VIKASH BHALOTIA (Querist)
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29 December 2008 In the month of april'08 i received HRA for 7 days but actual rent paid was for 30 days. so my question is can I claim HRA exemption for 30 days or proportionate basis for 10 dyas .
for e.g.
HRA Recd. for 7 days Rs 1500
Actual rent paid for 30 days Rs 3300
Basic salary for 30 days Rs 14000
then how much amount i can claim as exemption on account of HRA U/s 10(13A).
Please advise me.

CA. Dashrath Maheshwari

CA. Dashrath Maheshwari (Expert)
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29 December 2008 HRA can be calculated on annual basis, you can not claim proportionate amount.

The exemption is based on minimum of three:
1. Actual HRA
2. 40% or 50% (as the case may be) of Salary.
3. Rent Paid - 10% of salary.

Therefore, if you paid more rent, there is not need to worry, you will get highest exemption.

K V Subba Rao

K V Subba Rao (Expert)
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29 December 2008 Please review

Please visit http://www.sunilgandhi.com/salary.html and read the following:

"HRA actually received has to necessarily pertain to the period in the previous year when the rental accommodation is occupied by the employee - meaning, HRA received for that period during which the employee was not occupying the rental accommodation will not be exempt...".

Also refer Para 13.1 of 31st edition of Singhania's Reckoner according to which HRA received for calculation purpose is "...in respect of the period during which the rental accomodation is occupied..."

So it appears to me that proportionate amount only has to be considered

For academic interest, let us take a hypothetical case. Suppose a person comes to city in Apr, takes a bachelor room for stay and keeps on searching for a job. He gets job in Mar. So receives HRA for one month. Can we adopt rent paid by him from Apr to Feb while he was searching for job? Please review

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