5 Months Left in the FY: The Tax Moves Still Open Before 31 March 2027

Every March, the same scene plays out: salaried employees frantically buying ELSS in the last week, employers chasing investment proofs, and CAs fielding panicked calls about proofs that don’t exist. The moves that save real money don’t need March — they need October. With five months left in the tax year ending 31 March 2027, here’s what still works, what doesn’t, and the numbers behind each.

One framing note before we start: this tax year runs under the Income-tax Act, 2025. The deduction rules you know are unchanged — only the section numbers moved. The old 80C family is now Sections 123–154. Our section-mapping guide has the full old-to-new table; the quick reference you need is below. Our deductions hub tracks every deduction guide in one place.

*Under the default regime (Section 202); salaried taxpayers effectively pay zero up to ₹12.75 lakh including the standard deduction.

First: confirm your regime (this decides everything else)

The default tax regime is now Section 202 of the 2025 Act (the old 115BAC). Under it, income up to ₹12 lakh pays zero tax after the Section 156 rebate — ₹12.75 lakh for salaried taxpayers once the standard deduction is counted. Crucially, the default regime allows almost no deductions.

Here’s the catch most people miss: the deductions below only help if you’re in the old regime. If your income sits comfortably under ₹12.75 lakh and you have no major deductions, the default regime probably already wins — run both scenarios on our income tax calculator before spending a rupee on “tax saving”. Buying ELSS you don’t need, in the wrong regime, is just expensive investing.

The still-open moves (October → March)

1. NPS: the extra ₹50,000 most people leave on the table (Section 124)

On top of the ₹1.5 lakh Section 123 limit, an additional ₹50,000 invested in NPS Tier 1 gets its own deduction. In the 30% slab, that’s ₹15,600 of tax saved (including cess) for money that was going toward retirement anyway. Five months is plenty of time to stagger ₹10,000 a month. Model it on our NPS calculator.

2. Health insurance top-up (Section 126)

Premiums up to ₹25,000 for self/family (₹50,000 if a senior citizen is covered) are deductible — and you can also cover parents for an additional ₹25,000/₹50,000. If your employer’s cover is thin and you meant to buy a top-up “sometime”, sometime is now: the premium must be paid within the tax year to count.

3. Start monthly ELSS/PPF instead of a March lump sum (Section 123)

The ₹1.5 lakh limit under Section 123 covers EPF, PPF, ELSS, LIC premiums, tuition fees and home-loan principal together. Starting a ₹12,500/month ELSS SIP now beats a panicked ₹1.5 lakh cheque in March on both market timing and sanity. Compare the options in our ELSS vs PPF vs FD comparison, and project the growth on our ELSS calculator and PPF calculator.

4. The 15 December advance-tax instalment

If your total tax liability for the year exceeds ₹10,000 after TDS, advance tax applies — and by 15 December you should have paid 75% of it cumulatively. Miss the instalments and interest under Sections 423–425 (the old 234A/B/C) starts compounding the damage. Freelancers and traders: this one is yours especially. Check your position on our advance tax calculator.

5. Tax-loss harvesting before 31 March

Sitting on a losing stock or fund? Selling before year-end lets you set the capital loss against gains — short-term losses against both short- and long-term gains. Just respect the wash-sale discipline: don’t rebuy the identical security the next morning purely to manufacture the loss.

6. Home-loan interest and rent restructuring

Home-loan interest up to ₹2 lakh on a self-occupied house is deductible under Section 22 (the old 24(b)) in the old regime. And if you’ve moved cities mid-year or your rent arrangement changed, restructure now so your HRA exemption math for the full year is clean — not reconstructed from WhatsApp chats in March.

A worked example: ₹14 lakh salary, mid-year replan

Rohan earns ₹14 lakh. Under the default regime (Section 202), his taxable income after the ₹75,000 standard deduction is ₹13.25 lakh — above the ₹12 lakh rebate line, so he pays tax on the full slab structure.

Switch to the old regime and use the moves above: ₹1.5 lakh under Section 123 (PF + ELSS), ₹50,000 NPS under Section 124, ₹25,000 health premium under Section 126. Taxable income: ₹14,00,000 − ₹75,000 − ₹2,25,000 = ₹11,00,000. The deduction stack pulls him a full slab lower — a saving of roughly ₹60,000+ versus doing nothing in the default regime. The exact figure depends on his other income and the slab math, but the direction is unambiguous: five months of planned contributions beat one month of panic every time.

Timing traps to avoid

• ELSS has a 3-year lock-in per instalment. Starting the SIP in October means the first units free up in October 2029 — a March lump sum locks everything to March 2030. Earlier is strictly better.
• Donations (Section 133) need receipts with the donee’s registration number. A March-night UPI donation without a proper 80G-style receipt is not a deduction.
• NPS contributions need clearing time. Don’t schedule the final contribution for 31 March evening — fund-credit delays can push it into April.
• Don’t double-count. EPF deducted from salary already eats into your ₹1.5 lakh Section 123 limit. Check your payslip before sizing the ELSS SIP.

FAQs

Do the new section numbers change how much I can save?

No. The Income-tax Act, 2025 is a restructuring — Section 123 keeps the ₹1.5 lakh limit, Section 126 keeps the ₹25,000/₹50,000 health-insurance limits, and so on. Only the numbers moved; the benefits didn’t shrink.

I’m in the new (default) regime. Is there anything for me?

The Section 156 rebate (zero tax up to ₹12 lakh / ₹12.75 lakh salaried) and the standard deduction apply automatically. Beyond that, the old-regime deduction stack doesn’t apply — your best “move” is usually confirming the default regime is actually optimal for you, which it is for most people without large deductions.

Can I switch regimes mid-year?

Salaried employees can generally choose their regime each year when filing; the choice is exercised in the return. Business-income taxpayers face stricter switching rules — check before assuming.

Is it too late to start PPF for this year?

Not at all — PPF contributions up to ₹1.5 lakh in the financial year qualify under Section 123. But note the interest-computation rule: deposits made by the 5th of a month earn interest for that month, so early-month deposits beat end-month ones.

Sources

• Income-tax Act, 2025 — Sections 123 (deductions for specified investments/payments; previously 80C), 124 (NPS; previously 80CCD), 126 (health insurance; previously 80D), 133 (donations; previously 80G), 153 (interest on deposits; previously 80TTA/80TTB), 156 (rebate; previously 87A), 202 (default regime; previously 115BAC). Mapping cross-checked against the TaxGuru “Income-tax Act 2025 vs 1961: Section Mapping Cheat Sheet” (updated October 2026) and TaxGST.in’s own section-mapping guide.
• Rebate and standard-deduction thresholds under the default regime per the Finance Act provisions applicable to FY 2026-27.