Section 80DD Deduction Explained: Updated Rules, Eligibility, and Claim Process

Section 80DD is a fixed deduction intended to reduce the tax burden on resident individuals and HUFs who support a disabled dependent, regardless of the amount of the monthly bills. The point is to provide relief, not reimbursement. In fact, that distinction changes how you plan.

However, there has been a shift in compliance for AY 2025–26. The tax filing workflow is getting more validation-heavy, and disability claims are now being linked more tightly to certificate identifiers on the portal and in utilities.

In practical terms, it means fewer “upload and forget” habits. Rather, it is about more structured disclosures. Moreover, if you do not keep the correct reference numbers handy, you are more likely to get stuck.

Therefore, read on to get a better idea of the tax deduction under Section 80DD.

Who Can Claim a Deduction Under Section 80DD?

The following are the major entities that can claim a deduction under Section 80DD:

1. Eligible Taxpayers

Primarily, the deduction is available to resident individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUF). That resident condition is the rule that decides everything.

In fact, if you are a non-resident for tax purposes, this deduction is simply not designed for your return, even if the dependent lives in India and even if expenses were paid from India. That “resident only” framing shows up consistently in mainstream tax guidance.

Moreover, it is also about regime choice. Many taxpayers now default into the new tax regime and later wonder why deductions disappear.

Under the new regime, a taxpayer generally forgoes exemptions and deductions when computing total income. This practically makes disability deductions relevant mostly when the old regime is opted for. So, eligibility is not just “who you are,” it is also “how you are filing this year.”

The following table shows whether you can claim as per your eligibility:

2. Definition of Dependent

For an individual taxpayer, it typically includes spouse, children, parents, and siblings. Also, there is an underlying expectation that the person is wholly or mainly dependent on the taxpayer for support and maintenance.

For an HUF, the dependent is simply a member of the HUF. This framing matters because many families share costs across siblings or rotate responsibilities. Then, the claim becomes complex when the dependency story is unclear on paper.

Hence, a practical way to think about it is documentation behaviour. If you cannot explain the dependency arrangement in one clean paragraph for your own records, the tax department will not magically infer it.

Of course, the deduction is fixed. But the relationship and dependency still need to be defensible if questioned later. So, keep it simple, consistent, and aligned with the certificate and the person’s financial reliance.

Conditions for Claiming Deduction

The following are the major conditions for claiming deductions:

1. Disability Certificate Requirements

The certificate is one of the most important requirements. Under Rule 11A, the medical authority for certifying autism, cerebral palsy, multiple disabilities, and related conditions includes either-

1. A neurologist with an MD in Neurology (and for children, a paediatric neurologist with an equivalent qualification), or
2. A civil surgeon or chief medical officer in a government hospital.

This shows who can certify that people miss when they get certificates from the wrong place.

Then comes the AY 2025–26 operational update. The filing experience now prompts taxpayers to enter an acknowledgement number associated with the disability certificate or the electronically filed certificate form. Also, users are reporting validation errors when that number is missing or conflicts with schedules.

In fact, it is showing up in actual filing flows. So, treat that acknowledgement number like a critical ID, not like optional metadata.

Another important aspect is the validity of the certificate. If the disability condition is temporary and requires reassessment after a specified period, the certificate is valid only up to the assessment year linked to its expiry date. After that, renewal becomes mandatory.

The following are the most important certificates and why they are important:

2. Covered Disabilities

The following are the major categories of covered disabilities and their examples:

Deduction Amount and Structure

Primarily, the deduction is a flat amount tied to disability severity, making it predictable for families and easier to apply in tax computation.

The standard deduction amount is ₹75,000 when disability is at least 40%. Also, it rises to ₹1,25,000 for severe disability at 80% or more. So, you can spend less than the deduction and still claim it. Also, you might spend far more and still be capped at the fixed number.

That is why planning is so necessary. Suppose you spent ₹30,000 on therapies and check-ups for your dependent, with disability certified at 45%. The deduction stays at ₹75,000.

Suppose you spent ₹2,00,000 for unforeseen circumstances, and disability is 75%. Even then, the deduction stays at ₹75,000. This shows that the design is based on relief rather than expense. Hence, set expectations inside the family accordingly.

Amount comparison chart (fixed nature, simplified):

Expenses and Payment Modes

The following are the expenses and payment modes you must be aware of:

1. Allowable Payments

Even though the deduction is fixed, the law still frames what it is “for.” The usual buckets include medical treatment (including nursing), rehabilitation, training, and payments into approved insurance or maintenance schemes meant for the dependent’s long-term care.

So, you can be paying for therapy sessions, assistive devices, structured rehab, or premiums for specified schemes. The return does not ask you to total every rupee for the deduction. However, the intent still shapes scrutiny if your claim is questioned later.

For medical expenses, families often use a mix of payment modes because life happens. For insurance premiums and formal schemes, receipts and policy records matter more because those are clean, third-party documents.

If you want fewer disputes later, channel the scheme payments through traceable banking routes and keep the policy schedule and premium proofs together in one folder. All these factors will help you in the long run.

2. Documentation

For medical and care expenses, taxpayer guidance commonly recommends self-declaration of the costs incurred, rather than uploading a stack of bills with the return.

When it comes to insurance premiums paid toward an approved scheme, receipts or proof of payment are required in greater detail. This is because the payment is discrete and verifiable.

This difference often surprises people, and then they either over-collect paperwork or under-prepare. Hence, for documentation, focus on the following:

• Disability certificate and its validity details, plus the acknowledgement reference used in the return.
• Self-declaration notes for care and treatment expenses, dated and signed, stored with any supporting invoices you have.
• Premium receipts and policy copies for approved schemes, because those are easy to verify and easy to lose.

How to Claim Deduction in ITR?

To claim deductions in the ITR (Income Tax Return), you can do so in two ways:

1. ITR Forms and Sections

In the ITR, this deduction generally sits under Schedule VI-A, where Chapter VI-A deductions are entered. Do the following if you want to file a deduction claim:

1. Choose the relevant deduction entry
2. Fill in the amount (based on severity)
3. Complete the dependent and certificate-related fields on the form.

In AY 2025–26 filing experiences, taxpayers have also reported that the portal expects the acknowledgement number of Form 10-IA or the certificate reference to be entered. That mismatches can trigger validation errors, especially when the self and dependent disability schedules collide.

If you are the kind of filer who waits until the last evening, this part can be tricky. The acknowledgement number is not something you want to hunt down at 11:40 p.m.

Also, note that the Income Tax Department provides AY 2025–26 offline utilities and common utilities for filing. It signals how standardized these disclosures have become across return types. So, use the utility validations as a preview of what the portal will complain about.

2. Online Tools

There is an official calculator page from the Income Tax Department that helps estimate the availability of deductions under this provision, updated to reflect amendments up to the Finance Act 2025.

It is not a filing substitute, but it is useful as a quick cross-check, especially when families are confused about whether the dependent is also claiming a disability deduction on their own return. It forces you to answer the right questions before you enter numbers.

Commercial tax-filing platforms add helpful UI nudges:

• Prompts for certificate details
• Reminders about regime choice
• Sometimes, pre-fill patterns are based on last year’s return.

Still, do not outsource responsibility to the interface. The platform does not know whether the certificate has expired or whether the dependent accidentally claimed another disability benefit. Although the tool can assist, your documents must align cleanly, year after year.

Mistakes and Penalties That People Make

The following are some mistakes and penalties you must avoid

1. Thinking You Get Deduction for Spending Money

Primarily, the deduction is rule-driven with resident status, dependent relationship, certified percentage, and correct regime selection. Under the new regime, taxpayers generally give up deductions.

So, claiming disability deductions while staying in the new regime can be disappointing or result in adjustments.

2. Compliance Drift

Sometimes, a certificate expires, and no one notices, and the family is busy. Then, the return gets filed like last year.

3. Schedule Conflict

It happens when a taxpayer mistakenly fills both “self disability” and “dependent disability” entries. This triggers acknowledgement number errors on the portal.

People have reported exactly this kind of conflict during the AY 2025–26 filing. In fact, when the portal blocks submission, you lose time and sometimes file late out of sheer frustration.

4. Fraudulent Certificates

If someone manufactures or misrepresents disability documentation, the department can disallow the deduction, charge interest, and initiate penalty or prosecution proceedings depending on the facts.

Actually, the reputational and financial cost of an “obviously wrong” claim is not worth it. Also, it harms genuine claimants by pushing the system toward stricter checks.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The following are some questions regarding Section 80DD deduction that you must come across frequently: