Section 80DDB

Section 80DDB is now Section 128 of the Income-tax Act 2025: up to Rs. 40,000, or Rs. 1,00,000 for a senior citizen, for treating a disease listed in rule 62.

Updated 1 October 2026

Section 80DDB is the provision of the repealed Income-tax Act 1961 that allowed a resident individual or Hindu undivided family to deduct the cost of treating a specified serious disease, up to Rs. 40,000, or Rs. 1,00,000 where the patient was a senior citizen. From 1 April 2026 the same deduction is Section 128 of the Income-tax Act 2025, on the same limits, with the list of diseases and specialists in rule 62 of the Income-tax Rules 2026.

Section 536(1) of the 2025 Act repealed the 1961 Act from 1 April 2026, and Section 536(2)(c) continues it for any tax year beginning before that date. A claim in the return filed in 2026 for the financial year 2025-26 is a Section 80DDB claim; the first Section 128 claim is for 2026-27. The Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 1,00,000 figures did not change in the move, and the Finance Act 2026 did not amend Section 128.

The deduction is narrow. It covers five serials of disease, from Parkinson’s disease and dementia where neurological disability is certified at 40% or more to malignant cancers, full-blown AIDS, chronic renal failure, haemophilia and thalassaemia. Every rupee received from an insurer or reimbursed by an employer is subtracted from it, so a central government employee or pensioner whose treatment is reimbursed under the Central Government Health Scheme usually has little or nothing to claim.

Like every Chapter VIII deduction except a handful, it belongs to the old tax regime alone. For a senior citizen the Rs. 1,00,000 limit is the largest age-linked deduction in the Act, and for a pensioner paying for treatment outside the scheme it is one of the few items that can tip the comparison with the new tax regime. The sections below set out the text, the disease list, who counts as a dependant, the reimbursement rule, worked figures and the procedure.

Which provision applies to which tax year

The citation follows the tax year in which the amount is paid. Section 536(2)(c) of the Income-tax Act 2025 continues the repealed 1961 Act for assessment, reassessment, rectification, penalty, revision and appeal in respect of any tax year beginning before 1 April 2026.

Financial year of payment	Governing provision	Disease list	Return filed in
2025-26 and earlier	Section 80DDB, Income-tax Act 1961	Rule 11DD, Income-tax Rules 1962	2026 and earlier
2026-27 onward	Section 128, Income-tax Act 2025	Rule 62, Income-tax Rules 2026	2027 onward

Provision, rule and filing year for the specified-disease deduction, under Section 536(2)(c) of the Income-tax Act 2025.

The present shape of the deduction dates from two Finance Acts. Section 21 of the Finance Act 2015 (No. 20 of 2015), with effect from 1 April 2016, replaced the certificate in Form No. 10-I with a prescription from a neurologist, an oncologist, a urologist, a haematologist, an immunologist or another prescribed specialist, and added a Rs. 80,000 limit for a “very senior citizen” aged 80 or more alongside the Rs. 60,000 limit for a senior citizen. CBDT Notification No. 78/2015 dated 12 October 2015 rewrote rule 11DD to match and omitted Form No. 10-I. Section 27 of the Finance Act 2018, with effect from 1 April 2019, raised the senior-citizen limit to Rs. 1,00,000 and omitted the very-senior-citizen proviso, leaving the two-tier Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 1,00,000 structure that Section 128 carries.

The text of Section 128

Section 128 of the Income-tax Act 2025 has five sub-sections:

Section 128(1) allows “an assessee who is resident in India” a deduction of “the amount actually paid during the tax year or a sum of Rs. 40000, whichever is less”, for the medical treatment of a prescribed disease or ailment, (a) for the assessee or a dependant, where the assessee is an individual, or (b) for any member of a Hindu undivided family, where the assessee is the family.
Section 128(2) allows the deduction only if the assessee obtains the prescription for the treatment from “a neurologist, oncologist, urologist, haematologist, immunologist, or any other specialist, as may be prescribed”.
Section 128(3) reduces the deduction by any amount received under an insurance from an insurer, or reimbursed by an employer, for the treatment.
Section 128(4) substitutes Rs. 1,00,000 for Rs. 40,000 where the amount is paid for a person who is a senior citizen.
Section 128(5) takes the meaning of “dependant” from Section 127(9) and of “insurer” from Section 2(9) of the Insurance Act 1938.

Section 128 is Section 80DDB rearranged. The 1961 section’s three provisos became sub-sections (2), (3) and (4), and its own definition of “dependant” was replaced by a cross-reference to Section 127(9), whose wording is the same. The 1961 section let the Board specify the diseases “in the rules made in this behalf”; Section 128(1) says “as may be prescribed”, and rule 62 of the Income-tax Rules 2026 does it.

Diseases and specialists in rule 62

Rule 62(1) of the Income-tax Rules 2026 sets out a Table of eligible diseases or ailments with the specialist from whom the prescription must be obtained:

Serial	Disease or ailment	Specialist who issues the prescription
1	Neurological diseases where the disability level has been certified to be of 40% and above: dementia, dystonia musculorum deformans, motor neuron disease, ataxia, chorea, hemiballismus, aphasia, Parkinson’s disease	Neurologist with a Doctorate of Medicine (D.M.) in Neurology
2	Malignant cancers	Oncologist with a D.M. in Oncology
3	Full-blown Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)	Any specialist with a postgraduate degree in General or Internal Medicine
4	Chronic renal failure	Nephrologist with a D.M. in Nephrology, or Urologist with a Master of Chirurgiae (M.Ch.) in Urology
5	Haematological disorders: haemophilia, thalassaemia	Specialist with a D.M. in Haematology

Eligible diseases and specialists, rule 62(1), Income-tax Rules 2026, for Section 128 of the Income-tax Act 2025.

The list is closed. A heart bypass, a joint replacement, a stroke without one of the named neurological conditions at 40% disability, or diabetes, however expensive, earns nothing under Section 128. Their cost can enter Section 126 only as medical expenditure on an uninsured senior citizen, up to Rs. 50,000.

Rule 62 relaxes the specialist requirement in two ways. Rule 62(2) accepts a specialist holding a degree equivalent to the one in the Table, if the equivalent is recognised by the Medical Council of India. Rule 62(3) provides that where the patient is treated at a government hospital, the prescription may be issued by a full-time specialist with a postgraduate degree in general or internal medicine, or an equivalent recognised degree.

Rule 62(4) prescribes the content of the prescription: the patient’s name and age, a description of the disease or ailment, and, under “Certified by”, the specialist’s signature, name, qualification, address and registration number, with the name and address of the hospital where the specialist works in a government hospital. A prescription in that format is the document the taxpayer keeps; nothing is filed with the return.

Who can claim, and for whom

The taxpayer must be resident in India. Section 128(1) opens with “an assessee who is resident in India”. A non-resident son paying for a resident father’s dialysis has no deduction. The patient’s residence matters separately for the senior-citizen limit, because Section 2(100) defines a senior citizen as a resident.

An individual claims for self or a dependant. For the taxpayer’s own treatment there is no dependency test. For anyone else, Section 128(5)(a) borrows Section 127(9)(b), under which a “dependant” of an individual means “the spouse, children, parents, brothers and sisters of the individual or any of them”, dependant “wholly or mainly on such individual” for support and maintenance.

Whether a parent is “wholly or mainly” dependent is a question of fact, because the Act does not quantify “mainly”. A father aged 78 living on a family pension of Rs. 12,000 a month in his son’s household is likely to be mainly dependent on the son; a retired Joint Secretary drawing a pension of Rs. 1,20,000 a month is not dependent on anyone, and treatment the son pays for that parent does not qualify. Section 127(8), which excludes from that section a dependant who has claimed the disability deduction under Section 154, is confined by its words to “this section” and does not carry into Section 128.

A Hindu undivided family claims for any member. Section 128(1)(b) needs no dependency, only membership. The family must itself be resident. A family that pays Rs. 70,000 for the dialysis of a member aged 66 deducts the whole Rs. 70,000, inside the Rs. 1,00,000 limit that Section 128(4) applies to a senior-citizen member; for a member aged 50 the same payment would be capped at Rs. 40,000.

How much can be deducted

The deduction is the lowest of three figures: the amount actually paid during the tax year, net of insurance and reimbursement; Rs. 40,000; or, where the patient is a senior citizen, Rs. 1,00,000.

Patient	Limit (Rs.)	Provision
Taxpayer, spouse, child, parent or sibling below 60	40,000	Section 128(1)
Any of them aged 60 or more and resident in India	1,00,000	Section 128(4)
Member of a Hindu undivided family below 60	40,000	Section 128(1)(b)
Member of a Hindu undivided family aged 60 or more	1,00,000	Section 128(4)

Limits under Section 128 of the Income-tax Act 2025, tax year 2026-27, old regime only.

Section 128(4) looks at the age of the person treated, not the age of the taxpayer. A daughter aged 35 who pays Rs. 1,40,000 for the chemotherapy of a dependent mother aged 67 deducts Rs. 1,00,000. A pensioner aged 66 who pays Rs. 70,000 for the thalassaemia treatment of a dependent grandchild cannot claim at all: a grandchild is not within the Section 127(9) list of spouse, children, parents, brothers and sisters.

The deduction is worth most to a working child in the 30% slab who pays for a parent. A Section Officer aged 45 in the old regime whose dependent father, aged 74, needs Rs. 1,30,000 of chemotherapy that no insurer or scheme reimburses deducts Rs. 1,00,000 under Section 128(4) and saves Rs. 31,200 including cess. If the father has a pension large enough that he is not mainly dependent on the son, the deduction is nil, and the father, as a senior citizen, can claim it in his own return only if he pays for the treatment himself and is in the old regime.

The limit is one figure per taxpayer per year, not one per patient. Section 128(1) allows “the amount actually paid during the tax year or a sum of Rs. 40000, whichever is less”, without any words multiplying it by the number of dependants, and Section 128(4) substitutes the higher figure where the payment is for a senior citizen. Where one taxpayer pays for a senior and a non-senior dependant in the same year, the sub-sections do not say how the two figures combine.

The deduction cannot exceed gross total income. Section 122(2) of the Income-tax Act 2025 provides that the aggregate of Chapter VIII deductions shall not exceed the gross total income of the assessee.

Insurance and reimbursement

Section 128(3) of the Income-tax Act 2025 provides that “the deduction under this section shall be reduced by any amount received under an insurance from an insurer, or reimbursed by an employer”. Where nothing is reimbursed the arithmetic is simple. Where something is, the words admit two readings, and they give different answers whenever the cost exceeds the limit.

On the literal reading, the deduction is first fixed at the lower of the amount paid and the limit, and the receipt is then subtracted from that figure. On the net-cost reading, the receipt is subtracted from the amount paid, and the limit is applied to what is left. The 1961 proviso used materially the same words, “the deduction under this section shall be reduced by the amount received”, so the move to Section 128 did not resolve it.

Treatment cost paid (Rs.)	Insurance or reimbursement (Rs.)	Patient a senior citizen	Deduction, literal reading (Rs.)	Deduction, net-cost reading (Rs.)
3,20,000	3,20,000, reimbursed in full	Yes	Nil	Nil
1,60,000	1,00,000	Yes	Nil	60,000
1,60,000	40,000	Yes	60,000	1,00,000
75,000	50,000	No	Nil	25,000
75,000	Nil	No	40,000	40,000
1,40,000	Nil	Yes	1,00,000	1,00,000

Effect of Section 128(3), Income-tax Act 2025, under the two readings of its wording. Worked by salary-calculator.in.

The literal reading follows the order of the words, because what is “reduced” is “the deduction”, a figure that already has the limit applied. A claim on the net-cost reading is a position on the wording that an assessing officer may dispute.

For central government servants and pensioners the employer-reimbursement limb is the important one. The Central Government Health Scheme reimburses treatment at private hospitals only up to the scheme’s rates, and that reimbursement comes from the Government as employer or former employer. Whatever the scheme pays reduces the Section 128 deduction under either reading above.

Section 128 and the other medical deductions

The Income-tax Act 2025 has four medical deductions in Chapter VIII, each with its own trigger:

Deduction	Section, 2025 Act	Former section	What it pays for	Limit (Rs.)
Health insurance, CGHS contribution, check-ups, uninsured senior citizen’s expenditure	126	80D	Premium and contributions; medical expenditure on an uninsured senior citizen	25,000 or 50,000 per group
Dependant with disability	127	80DD	Maintenance and treatment of a dependant with disability	75,000, or 1,25,000 for severe disability
Specified diseases	128	80DDB	Treatment of a disease in rule 62	40,000, or 1,00,000 for a senior citizen
Taxpayer with disability	154	80U	Flat deduction for the taxpayer’s own disability	75,000, or 1,25,000 for severe disability

Medical deductions in Chapter VIII of the Income-tax Act 2025, tax year 2026-27, old regime only.

Section 126 and Section 128 can be claimed in the same year. A senior citizen who pays a Rs. 50,000 health-insurance premium and spends Rs. 1,20,000 of their own money on cancer treatment that the policy does not cover deducts Rs. 50,000 under Section 126 and Rs. 1,00,000 under Section 128. The same expenditure cannot be counted twice: a rupee of treatment claimed under Section 128 is not also medical expenditure under Section 126(2)(c).

Old regime only

Section 202(2)(a)(xii) of the Income-tax Act 2025 removes all of Chapter VIII from the new-regime computation except Sections 124(1), 124(2), 125(2) and 146. Section 128 is not among them, so a taxpayer in the default new regime gets nothing for treatment costs.

A salaried taxpayer or pensioner without business income can opt for the old regime afresh each year in the return under Section 202(4)(b), so a year of heavy treatment can be an old-regime year and the next a new-regime year. The how to switch tax regime guide covers the mechanics.

Worked example: a pensioner aged 72

A retired Section Officer aged 72 draws pension and dearness relief of Rs. 9,60,000 for 2026-27 and earns Rs. 1,00,000 of deposit interest. During the year the pensioner spends Rs. 1,80,000 on dialysis for chronic renal failure, none of it reimbursed by the scheme or an insurer, and pays a Rs. 45,000 health-insurance premium. A nephrologist’s prescription in the rule 62(4) format is on file.

Step	New regime (Rs.)	Old regime, 60 to 79 (Rs.)
Gross income	10,60,000	10,60,000
Standard deduction, Section 19(1) serial 2	75,000	50,000
Section 128	Not allowed	1,00,000
Section 126	Not allowed	45,000
Section 153(2)(b)	Not allowed	50,000
Total income	9,85,000	8,15,000
Slab tax	38,500	73,000
Rebate, Section 156	38,500	Nil
Cess at 4%	Nil	2,920
Tax payable	Nil	75,920

Tax year 2026-27, Table to Section 202(1) of the Income-tax Act 2025, and Paragraph A(II), Part I-B, First Schedule, Finance Act 2026. Computed by salary-calculator.in.

The treatment cost of Rs. 1,80,000 is above the limit, so Rs. 1,00,000 is deducted. Even with Rs. 1,45,000 of medical deductions and Rs. 50,000 for interest, the old regime costs Rs. 75,920 against nil, because the Section 156(2)(a) rebate cancels up to Rs. 60,000 of new-regime tax. Section 128 decides the choice only where other old-regime deductions are already large, as the senior citizen tax break-even table shows.

Claiming the deduction

Through the employer or pension-paying bank. Section 392(5)(b) of the Income-tax Act 2025 requires the person paying salary to obtain evidence of prescribed claims, and rule 205 of the Income-tax Rules 2026 prescribes Form No. 124, the successor to Form 12BB, for that evidence. A drawing and disbursing officer, or the bank paying a pension, then reflects the deduction in the tax deducted at source and in the certificate in Form No. 130, the successor to Form 16.

In the return. The deduction is claimed in the return of income for the tax year, under the old regime. The prescription, hospital bills, proof of payment and any insurer’s settlement letter are kept, not attached.

For a specified senior citizen aged 75 or more. Where the pensioner meets Section 402(39) and has given the bank Form No. 125, rule 208(3) of the Income-tax Rules 2026 requires the bank to give effect to Chapter VIII deductions on the evidence furnished during the year. A Section 128 claim then reaches the tax computed by the bank without a return. The Section 194P article covers that route.

Common misreadings

“Any serious illness qualifies.” Only the diseases in the rule 62 Table do. Cardiac surgery, stroke without a listed neurological condition at 40% disability, and diabetes are outside it.

“Rs. 1,00,000 applies because the taxpayer is a senior citizen.” Section 128(4) looks at the person treated. A 65-year-old paying for a 40-year-old dependent son’s cancer treatment is limited to Rs. 40,000.

“Any parent counts.” Only a parent wholly or mainly dependent on the taxpayer for support and maintenance, under Section 127(9)(b).

“CGHS-reimbursed treatment can still be claimed.” Section 128(3) reduces the deduction by every rupee reimbursed by an employer, and a Central Government Health Scheme reimbursement is paid by the Government as employer or former employer.

“Form 10-I is needed.” For the tax year 2026-27 the requirement is a prescription in the rule 62(4) format from the specialist named in rule 62(1).

“It applies in the new regime.” Section 202(2)(a)(xii) removes it.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is Section 80DDB?

Section 80DDB of the repealed Income-tax Act 1961 allowed a resident individual or Hindu undivided family to deduct the cost of treating certain serious diseases, up to Rs. 40,000, or Rs. 1,00,000 where the patient was a senior citizen. From the tax year 2026-27 the same deduction is Section 128 of the Income-tax Act 2025, with the same limits, and the disease list is in rule 62 of the Income-tax Rules 2026. It is available only in the old regime.

Which section of the Income-tax Act 2025 replaced Section 80DDB?

Section 128, headed Deduction in respect of medical treatment, etc. Section 128(1) carries the main deduction, Section 128(2) the specialist prescription, Section 128(3) the reduction for insurance and reimbursement, Section 128(4) the senior-citizen limit of Rs. 1,00,000, and Section 128(5) the definitions. Section 80DDB continues to govern the financial year 2025-26 and earlier years under Section 536(2)(c) of the 2025 Act.

What is the limit under Section 80DDB for senior citizens?

Rs. 1,00,000 or the amount actually paid, whichever is less. Section 128(4) of the Income-tax Act 2025 substitutes Rs. 1,00,000 for Rs. 40,000 where the person treated, whether the taxpayer, a dependant or a member of a Hindu undivided family, is a senior citizen, meaning a resident aged 60 or more at any time in the tax year under Section 2(100). The taxpayer’s own age does not matter.

Which diseases are covered?

Rule 62 of the Income-tax Rules 2026 lists five serials: neurological diseases where disability is certified at 40% or more (dementia, dystonia musculorum deformans, motor neuron disease, ataxia, chorea, hemiballismus, aphasia and Parkinson’s disease); malignant cancers; full-blown AIDS; chronic renal failure; and the haematological disorders haemophilia and thalassaemia. No other disease qualifies, however costly its treatment.

Who can issue the prescription?

The specialist named against each disease in rule 62(1) of the Income-tax Rules 2026: a neurologist with a D.M. in neurology, an oncologist with a D.M. in oncology, a specialist with a postgraduate degree in general or internal medicine for AIDS, a nephrologist with a D.M. or a urologist with an M.Ch. for chronic renal failure, and a haematologist with a D.M. for haemophilia and thalassaemia. Rule 62(3) lets a full-time government-hospital specialist in general or internal medicine issue it for a patient treated there.

Is Form 10-I still required?

No. Rule 62(4) of the Income-tax Rules 2026 prescribes the prescription itself, with the patient’s name and age, the disease, and the specialist’s name, qualification, address, registration number and signature, plus the hospital’s name where the specialist works in a government hospital. Section 128(2) of the Income-tax Act 2025 requires a prescription, not a certificate in a numbered form.

Can the deduction be claimed for parents?

Yes, if the parent is a dependant. Section 128(5)(a) of the Income-tax Act 2025 borrows the definition in Section 127(9)(b), under which a dependant of an individual is the spouse, children, parents, brothers and sisters, or any of them, who are dependant wholly or mainly on the individual for support and maintenance. A parent who lives on a sufficient pension of their own is not mainly dependent and does not qualify.

Is the deduction reduced by CGHS or mediclaim reimbursement?

Yes. Section 128(3) of the Income-tax Act 2025 reduces the deduction by any amount received under an insurance from an insurer, or reimbursed by an employer, for the medical treatment. A pensioner whose treatment is reimbursed in full under the Central Government Health Scheme gets no deduction. Where the cost exceeds the limit, the words reduce the deduction itself, which is already capped: a senior citizen who pays Rs. 1,60,000 and receives Rs. 40,000 deducts Rs. 60,000 on that literal reading. Deducting Rs. 1,00,000, by taking the receipt off the cost before applying the cap, is a position an assessing officer may dispute.

Can Section 80D and Section 80DDB be claimed together?

Yes. Section 126 of the Income-tax Act 2025, the former Section 80D, covers health-insurance premium, CGHS contributions, preventive check-ups and medical expenditure on an uninsured senior citizen. Section 128 covers the cost of treating a disease listed in rule 62. They are separate deductions with separate limits, though one rupee of expenditure cannot be claimed under both.

Is Section 80DDB available in the new regime?

No. Section 202(2)(a)(xii) of the Income-tax Act 2025 removes all of Chapter VIII from the new-regime computation except Sections 124(1), 124(2), 125(2) and 146, and Section 128 is not among them. A taxpayer must opt for the old regime under Section 202(4) to claim it.

Can a non-resident claim Section 80DDB?

No. Section 128(1) of the Income-tax Act 2025 opens with an assessee who is resident in India, as Section 80DDB did. A non-resident child paying for a resident parent’s cancer treatment therefore has no deduction, even in the old regime.

In which year is the deduction claimed?

In the tax year in which the amount is actually paid. Section 128(1) of the Income-tax Act 2025 allows the amount actually paid during the tax year, so treatment spread over March and April falls into two tax years, each with its own Rs. 40,000 or Rs. 1,00,000 limit.

How is the deduction claimed through the employer or pension bank?

By furnishing evidence to the person deducting tax from salary or pension. Rule 205 of the Income-tax Rules 2026, made under Section 392(5)(b) of the Income-tax Act 2025, requires an employee to furnish evidence of claims in Form No. 124, the successor to Form 12BB, and serial 4 of its Table covers Chapter VIII deductions. The deduction can also be claimed directly in the return.

External references

References

Income-tax Act 2025 (No. 30 of 2025), Section 128 (deduction in respect of medical treatment) and Section 2(100) (senior citizen), in force 1 April 2026.
Income-tax Act 2025, Section 127(8) and 127(9) (dependant), Section 122(2), Section 202(2)(a)(xii) and 202(4)(b), Section 536(1) and 536(2)(c).
Income-tax Rules 2026, rule 62 (eligible diseases, specialists and prescription format), rule 205 and Form No. 124, rule 208.
Income-tax Act 1961, Section 80DDB, as it stood on 31 March 2026.
Income-tax Act 2025, Sections 126, 127 and 154 (other medical and disability deductions), and Section 392(5)(b).
Finance Act 2026 (No. 4 of 2026), Paragraph A(II), Part I-B, First Schedule.