Take-Home Salary Calculator
Reviewed by Subir Kumar Debsharma, Tax, GST and ROC professional with 20+ years of experience.
The gap between the CTC on your offer letter and the money that actually lands in your account each month surprises almost every first-time earner. Part of your CTC is spent by the employer on your behalf and never paid to you as salary, and the rest is trimmed by PF, professional tax, and income tax. This calculator turns an annual CTC into a monthly in-hand figure, shows the old and new tax regimes side by side on the same package, and models two things most tools skip: professional tax by state and the new Labour Code that lifts your basic to half of CTC. It is an educational estimate. For anything you file, a chartered accountant is the right person to confirm.
Your total cost to company per year. Enter the fixed part if a big variable bonus is separate.
Usually 40 to 50 percent. A higher basic means more PF and gratuity, so less take-home now.
Monthly take-home (new regime)
₹99,017
- Annual take-home (new regime)
- ₹11,88,207
- Monthly take-home (old regime)
- ₹86,046
- Income tax, new regime (with cess)
- ₹7,623
- Take-home as % of CTC
- 85%
Where your CTC goes (annual)
| Cost to company (CTC) | ₹14,00,000 |
| Less: employer PF (in CTC, not paid to you) | - ₹84,000 |
| Less: gratuity provision (4.81% of basic) | - ₹33,670 |
| Gross salary | ₹12,82,330 |
| Less: your EPF (12% of basic) | - ₹84,000 |
| Less: professional tax | - ₹2,500 |
| Less: income tax (new regime) | - ₹7,623 |
| In-hand, new regime | ₹11,88,207 |
The new tax regime is the default and applies the ₹75,000 standard deduction, which keeps taxable income up to ₹12 lakh tax-free through the Section 87A rebate. The old-regime figure here assumes your only 80C deduction is your own EPF; adding more 80C or an HRA claim would lower the old-regime tax further. Whichever gives a higher in-hand is the one to pick, a call worth confirming with a CA.
How does the take-home calculator work?
The take-home calculator peels your CTC down to in-hand pay in two steps: CTC minus employer contributions gives gross salary, and gross minus your own deductions gives take-home. You enter your annual CTC, the basic as a percentage of it, your state for professional tax, and how PF is calculated. It then subtracts the employer PF and the gratuity provision to reach gross, and subtracts your EPF, professional tax, and income tax to reach in-hand, for both tax regimes.
Basic salary is the lever that moves everything. PF and gratuity are both calculated as a percentage of basic, so a higher basic means larger contributions and a smaller in-hand today, in exchange for more retirement savings. That trade-off is exactly what the new Labour Code changes, and why the calculator lets you set the basic percentage yourself.
Why is your in-hand less than your CTC?
Your in-hand is lower than your CTC because CTC bundles in two employer costs, the employer's 12% PF contribution and the gratuity provision, that are spent on you but never paid to you as monthly salary. Strip those out and you get gross salary. Then your own EPF, professional tax, and income tax come out of gross to leave in-hand.
A worked example makes the layers concrete. On an ₹18 lakh CTC with basic at 50%, the employer PF (₹1.08 lakh) and gratuity (₹43,290) come off first, leaving a gross of about ₹16.49 lakh. Your EPF (₹1.08 lakh), professional tax, and new-regime income tax of about ₹1.21 lakh then reduce it to roughly ₹1.42 lakh a month in-hand. The number on the offer letter was ₹1.5 lakh a month; the number in your account is closer to ₹1.18 lakh. Nothing was hidden, but four separate line items each took a slice.
Old vs new regime: which leaves more in-hand?
The new tax regime is the default from FY 2025-26 and gives most salaried people a higher in-hand, thanks to a ₹75,000 standard deduction and a Section 87A rebate that zeroes tax on income up to ₹12 lakh. The old regime offers a smaller ₹50,000 standard deduction but lets you claim HRA, home-loan interest, and up to ₹1.5 lakh under Section 80C. It only wins when those deductions are large.
On that same ₹18 lakh CTC, the new regime leaves about ₹1.18 lakh a month, while the old regime, assuming your only 80C is your EPF, leaves closer to ₹1.06 lakh. That ₹12,000 monthly gap is why the calculator shows both figures together instead of making you run the numbers twice. Add a full ₹1.5 lakh of 80C and a real HRA claim, and the old regime narrows the gap or overtakes, which is the one case worth checking with a CA before you declare a regime to your employer.
How do the new Labour Codes change take-home?
The four Labour Codes took effect on 21 November 2025, and the Code on Wages now requires basic plus dearness allowance to be at least 50% of total remuneration. For years, employers kept basic low, often near 40% of CTC, to reduce PF and gratuity and inflate the take-home number on an offer. The 50% floor closes that gap.
The effect is a slightly smaller paycheck and a slightly larger retirement balance. Lifting basic from 40% to 50% of an ₹18 lakh CTC raises both the employer and employee PF and the gratuity accrual, which typically trims monthly take-home by around 3% to 7% while that money moves into your PF instead. Central provisions are in force, but state-level rules are still being notified through 2026, so not every employer has switched yet. The calculator's Labour Code toggle floors basic at 50% so you can see the shift on your own package.
Does professional tax apply in your state?
Professional tax is a state-level tax capped at ₹2,500 a year, and several states and union territories do not charge it at all. Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan levy no professional tax, so a Delhi employee on the same salary keeps a little more than a Mumbai one. States that do charge it, like Maharashtra and Karnataka, take around ₹200 a month.
This sounds minor, and per month it is. Over a career it isn't, and more to the point, a calculator that hardcodes a flat professional tax simply gets the in-hand wrong for a third of the country. That is why this tool asks for your state instead of assuming one.
What this calculator does not do
It estimates a standard salary structure from your CTC and basic percentage. It does not read your actual offer letter, so it can't capture an unusual allowance mix, employer NPS, ESOPs, meal cards, or a variable bonus paid separately. Its old-regime figure assumes your only 80C deduction is your EPF, so it understates the old regime for anyone with a full 80C, HRA, or home-loan claim. The professional-tax figure uses each state's typical annual maximum, which can differ slightly at lower salaries. And it is not advice on which regime to pick or how to structure your salary. For that, and for anything you file, speak to a chartered accountant.
Pair this calculator with the guide
For the difference between CTC, gross, and net pay explained from scratch, read the gross vs net income guide. Because the regime choice drives most of the tax line, the income tax slab guide covers the FY 2025-26 slabs and the 87A rebate in full, and since the largest single deduction is usually PF, the Employee Provident Fund guide explains where that 12% actually goes.
Frequently asked questions
How is take-home salary calculated from CTC?
Take-home salary is your CTC minus the parts that never reach your bank. First, subtract the employer's PF contribution and the gratuity provision from CTC to get your gross salary. Then subtract your own EPF (12% of basic), professional tax, and income-tax TDS from gross to get in-hand. On a ₹14 lakh CTC with a 50% basic, that works out to roughly ₹99,000 a month under the new regime. The two employer contributions are the surprise, because they inflate the CTC on your offer letter without ever being paid to you as salary.
Why is my in-hand salary so much lower than my CTC?
Your in-hand is lower than your CTC because CTC includes money the employer spends on you that you never receive as cash: their 12% PF contribution and the annual gratuity provision of about 4.81% of basic. After those come out to give gross salary, your own EPF, professional tax, and income tax are deducted. Together these commonly leave take-home at about 75% to 90% of CTC, with the exact figure driven by your basic percentage, your tax regime, and whether PF is capped at the ₹15,000 wage ceiling.
Which tax regime gives higher take-home?
The new regime gives higher take-home for most salaried people now, which is why it is the default from FY 2025-26. It offers a ₹75,000 standard deduction and a Section 87A rebate that makes taxable income up to ₹12 lakh tax-free, versus a ₹50,000 standard deduction under the old regime. The old regime only wins if you claim large deductions like HRA, home-loan interest, and a full ₹1.5 lakh under 80C. This calculator shows both in-hand figures side by side so you can see which is higher for your salary.
Does professional tax apply everywhere in India?
No. Professional tax is a state-level tax, capped at ₹2,500 per year by the Constitution, and several states and union territories do not levy it at all, including Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan. States like Maharashtra and Karnataka charge around ₹200 a month. This calculator lets you pick your state so the deduction is right, because tools that hardcode a flat professional tax overstate the deduction for anyone in a no-tax state.
Do the new Labour Codes reduce take-home salary?
They can. The four Labour Codes took effect on 21 November 2025, and the Code on Wages requires basic plus dearness allowance to be at least 50% of total pay. For allowance-heavy salary structures where basic was kept low, raising it to 50% increases both PF and gratuity, which typically trims monthly take-home by around 3% to 7% while growing retirement savings. State-level rules are still rolling out through 2026, so many employers have not fully switched. The calculator has a toggle to apply the 50% floor and see the effect.
What percentage of CTC is take-home?
Take-home is usually between 75% and 90% of CTC for a salaried employee, and the spread comes down to three things. A higher basic percentage means more PF and gratuity, lowering in-hand now. The new regime usually leaves more in-hand than the old one. And whether PF is calculated on your full basic or capped at the ₹15,000 wage ceiling changes the deduction. The ranges you see quoted online differ because sites make different assumptions on these three, which is why this calculator exposes each one.
Sources
- Income Tax Department of India, Tax slabs, standard deduction and Section 87A rebate (FY 2025-26), incometax.gov.in
- Ministry of Labour and Employment, The Code on Wages 2019 and the Labour Codes, labour.gov.in
- Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, Contribution rates and the ₹15,000 wage ceiling, epfindia.gov.in
- Ministry of Labour and Employment, Payment of Gratuity Act 1972, labour.gov.in