Moment guide · FY 2026-27

I am claiming 80D on health insurance premiums

How much 80D deduction can I claim for my family?

Under section 80D, you can deduct up to ₹25,000 for premiums on yourself, your spouse and children — ₹50,000 if any covered person is a senior — plus a separate ₹25,000 (₹50,000 for senior parents) for your parents. The ₹5,000 preventive check-up allowance sits inside those limits, cash premiums above ₹5,000 are disallowed, and 80D does not apply in the new regime.

The #1 trap

Paying the premium in cash: any premium payment above ₹5,000 by cash is disallowed entirely for the excess — the deduction is lost, not just the cash part. Also, the ₹5,000 preventive check-up is inside the limit, and none of 80D is available in the new regime.

Kiran, consultant with family and senior parents to cover

Kiran pays health insurance premiums of ₹18,000 for himself, his spouse and his two children, and ₹28,000 for his parents, who are both above 60. Under section 80D he claims the full ₹18,000 for the family within the ₹25,000 self-plus-family limit, leaving ₹7,000 of headroom unused. For his senior parents, the separate ceiling is ₹50,000, so his ₹28,000 is fully deductible. His total 80D deduction is ₹18,000 plus ₹28,000, which is ₹46,000. He also spent ₹4,000 on preventive health check-ups for the family, and under the rules up to ₹5,000 of preventive check-up expenses is allowed within the overall 80D limit — so he includes the ₹4,000 within his ₹25,000 family ceiling, taking his family claim to ₹22,000 of the ₹25,000 available. All his premiums were paid online, which is essential: if he had paid any premium above ₹5,000 in cash, the excess would be wholly disallowed. His colleague whose parents are below 60 can claim only ₹25,000 for them, not ₹50,000, and a friend in the new regime cannot claim 80D at all, which is a key input to his regime decision. Kiran's total deduction of ₹46,000 plus the ₹4,000 check-up, all within limits, reduces his old-regime taxable income by ₹50,000 in total. He keeps the premium receipts, the payment records and the check-up bills, and inputs the exact amounts in the 80D schedule of his ITR. A quick call with us dials in the final figure. Kiran also checks that the premium is paid in the name of the person covered or the policyholder; a premium paid on someone else's policy by a third party can be questioned, and the deduction requires the payment to be by the taxpayer or a member of the HUF. The ₹4,000 preventive check-up is claimed only when the bill shows the nature of the service, and it sits inside the ₹25,000 family limit, not on top of it. If his parents are 60 or above on the last day of the financial year, the higher ₹50,000 ceiling applies for the whole year. His employer also provides group mediclaim, which is fully exempt as an employer-paid benefit and does not reduce his own 80D claim; the two are independent. A quick call with us dials in the final figure.