Income Tax: Senior citizens are entitled to claim THESE benefits

ITR 2025: As income tax (I-T) return filing season is back, taxpayers are busy arranging documents to be able to file their income tax (I-T) return. There are a number of concessions and deductions offered for different category of taxpayers based on different criteria include the age of taxpayers. 

For instance, there is a higher exemption limit for senior citizens at the time of filing tax return and higher deduction towards medical expenses for specified diseases.  

“There are a number of benefits given to senior citizens. These include the following: Section 194P provides conditional exemption to Senior Citizens above 75 from ITR filing. Then they have higher tax exemption slab in Old Tax Regime. ( ₹3 lakh for senior citizens and ₹5 lakh for super senior citizens). Additionally, senior citizens who do not have a business or professional Income are exempt from payment of advance tax. ⁠Senior Citizens are also entitled to get deduction up to 50,000 under section 80D for Medical policy or medical expenditure,” says CA Pratibha Goyal, partner of PD Gupta and Company, a Delhi-based firm.

Income tax benefits offered to senior citizens

I. Deduction on medical insurance premium: While regular citizens are offered a maximum of ₹25,000 deduction in form of medical insurance premium, senior citizen are entitled to claim maximum of ₹50,000 for senior citizens.

II. Medical expenses for specified diseases: Senior citizens are also entitled to claim up to ₹1 lakh under 80DDB for treatment of specified diseases as compared to ₹40,000 for those aged below 60.

III. Interest income on savings and fixed deposits: Senior citizens and super senior citizens are also allowed a deduction of up to ₹50,000 on interest income they earn from savings accounts, fixed deposits and recurring deposits (RDs) in banks and post offices.

IV. Exempt from filing ITR: Additionally, the basic exemption limit for taxpayers is ₹2.5 lakh, whereas it is higher for the senior citizens i.e., ₹3 lakh and ₹5 lakh for super senior citizens. This means citizens above the age of 60 do not need to pay any income tax for annual income upto ₹3 lakh.

Additionally, section 194P of I-T Act, 1961 introduced in 2021 provides conditional relief to taxpayers above the age of 75 from filing tax returns.

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