What is a TDS Calculator?
Your employer estimates your full-year tax liability at the start of the year (and revises it as your declarations come in) and deducts it in equal-ish monthly instalments as TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) under Section 192 — this is what shows up as a deduction on your monthly payslip.
Enter your expected annual gross salary and pick a regime to see the estimated monthly TDS — useful for sanity-checking your payslip or planning your take-home pay before a new job or raise kicks in.
How monthly TDS is estimated
In practice, employers often front-load or adjust TDS across the year as your declared investments and bonus payouts come in, so your actual monthly deduction may not be perfectly even — this calculator shows the simple annual-average estimate.
Worked example: monthly TDS across a few salary levels
On the new regime, an annual gross salary of ₹8,00,000 produces zero tax and therefore zero TDS — the ₹12 lakh effective tax-free threshold (after standard deduction and the Section 87A rebate) covers it entirely. At ₹15,00,000, annual tax is roughly ₹97,500, which averages to roughly ₹8,125 a month in TDS. At ₹20,00,000, annual tax is roughly ₹1,92,400, averaging to roughly ₹16,033 a month. The jump isn’t proportional to the jump in salary — tax is calculated on slabs, so a higher salary pushes progressively more of your income into higher brackets, not just adding a flat percentage more TDS.
Why TDS often changes mid-year
Your employer doesn’t just divide your annual tax by 12 once and leave it — they re-estimate your full-year tax liability whenever something material changes: a raise, a bonus payout, or updated investment/deduction declarations (for old-regime filers) submitted toward the financial year-end. A large bonus in one month, for instance, can spike that month’s TDS well above the simple average shown here, since the bonus itself pushes you further up the slabs for that pay cycle’s calculation, before evening out again afterward.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my payslip show a different TDS than this?
Employers recompute your projected annual tax whenever your salary, bonus, or declared deductions change, and may adjust TDS unevenly across remaining months to true up — this calculator only shows a simple 12-way average.
What TDS rate applies to other income, like FD interest or rent?
Those follow separate sections with their own flat rates — commonly 10% on FD/RD interest above the exemption threshold (Section 194A), 10% on rent paid by companies or 2–5% for individuals paying above threshold (Section 194-I), and 10% on professional fees (Section 194J). These aren’t salary TDS and use flat rates, not slabs.
Can I get excess TDS refunded?
Yes — if your actual tax liability (after filing your return) is lower than the TDS deducted through the year, the excess is refunded when you file your Income Tax Return.
Does TDS apply if my income is below the taxable threshold?
No — if your projected annual tax liability is zero (as with most incomes up to roughly ₹12.75 lakh under the new regime, after standard deduction and rebate), your employer shouldn’t deduct any TDS. You can also submit Form 15G/15H to a bank to avoid TDS on interest income if your total income is below the taxable threshold.
What happens if my employer deducts too little TDS?
You’re still liable for the shortfall when filing your return, potentially with interest under Sections 234B/234C if the underpayment is large enough — it’s worth checking your Form 16 or payslip TDS against your own estimate rather than assuming your employer’s calculation is automatically correct for your full financial picture.
Is TDS the same thing as advance tax?
No — TDS is deducted by whoever pays you (employer, bank, tenant, etc.) and deposited on your behalf. Advance tax is tax you pay directly, in instalments, on income where no one deducts TDS for you (freelance income, capital gains, etc.), required if your total tax liability for the year exceeds ₹10,000.
Can I reduce my monthly TDS by declaring investments upfront?
Under the old regime, yes — declaring your planned 80C, 80D, and other deductions to your employer at the start of the year lets them factor those into the TDS calculation from month one, rather than only adjusting once you submit proof later in the year.