Rent receipts for HRA: format, owner PAN and the 2026 rules

If you're salaried, get house rent allowance (HRA) and are on the old tax regime, your employer asks for rent receipts before it reduces the tax it deducts from your salary. Most companies collect them between December and February. Here's what the receipts must show, and what changed from April 2026.

In short: one receipt a month (or one per payment), signed by the owner, with the owner's PAN if the rent is over ₹1 lakh a year. Cash above ₹5,000 needs a ₹1 revenue stamp. HRA isn't available in the new tax regime. Make the receipts free.

What changed from April 2026

The Income-tax Act, 2025 and the Income-tax Rules, 2026 came into force on 1 April 2026, replacing the 1961 Act. For HRA, three things changed from the 2026-27 financial year:

• Eight cities now get the 50% limit: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai as before, plus Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad. Everywhere else it's 40%.
• Form 124 replaces Form 12BB as the declaration you give your employer for HRA and other deductions.
• You say whether you're related to the landlord, for example when you pay rent to a parent.

The way HRA is worked out, the need for receipts and the ₹1 lakh PAN rule stay the same. Your return for 2025-26, filed in 2026, still follows the old rules, with 50% only for the four original metros.

What a rent receipt must show

• The tenant's name and the owner's name
• The address of the rented house or flat
• The rent amount, in figures and in words
• The period it covers, for example "April 2026"
• The date and how it was paid: UPI, bank transfer, cheque or cash
• The owner's signature
• The owner's PAN, if the rent is more than ₹1 lakh for the year
• A ₹1 revenue stamp, signed across, if it was paid in cash and is above ₹5,000

One receipt a month is the usual way. Some employers accept one receipt for a quarter or the whole year, but monthly receipts are accepted everywhere and match your bank record month by month.

A receipt you can copy

Received ₹35,000 (Rupees thirty-five thousand only) from [tenant's name] towards rent for [month and year] for the property at [full address]. Paid by [UPI / bank transfer / cheque / cash] on [date]. Owner: [owner's name], PAN [owner's PAN]. Signature: ________

When you need the owner's PAN

When the rent you pay is more than ₹1 lakh in a financial year, your employer needs the owner's PAN on your declaration. That's about ₹8,334 a month or more. Without it, the employer can refuse the HRA claim above ₹1 lakh. If the owner really has no PAN, they sign a declaration saying so, with their name and address, and you give that instead.

How much HRA is tax free

The exempt part of your HRA is the smallest of these three amounts, worked out for the year:

1. The HRA your employer actually paid you
2. The rent you paid, minus 10% of your salary
3. 50% of your salary in the eight cities above, or 40% elsewhere

"Salary" here means basic pay plus dearness allowance (and commission, if it's a fixed share of sales).

An example in Bengaluru

Basic pay ₹60,000 a month, HRA ₹30,000 a month, rent ₹35,000 a month. For the year:

Moving Bengaluru to 50% makes ₹60,000 more of this person's HRA tax free each year. The rent is over ₹1 lakh a year, so they need the owner's PAN.

Paying rent on UPI

UPI and bank transfers make HRA easier to prove: each payment has a date and a reference number (UTR). Keep those with your receipts. The tax department can ask for proof, and receipts that don't match your bank statement are a common reason claims are questioned. Paying the same amount on the same day each month, and getting a receipt for each payment, keeps it simple.

If you're an owner, RentKarma does this for every tenant: a WhatsApp reminder before rent is due, payment on UPI straight to you, and every payment recorded with its date and UTR, so you and your tenant have the same record when receipts are due.