Salary
Your CTC is not your salary. What reaches your account depends on how your employer split basic pay, what PF and professional tax take out, and which tax regime you are on. These tools work through that, in the order the questions usually come up.
CTC includes things that never reach your bank account — employer PF, gratuity provision, sometimes insurance. Take-home is what is left after those, your own PF, professional tax and income tax. Start with your CTC and work down.
House Rent Allowance is exempt only up to the lowest of three tests — the HRA you receive, rent above 10% of basic, and 50% or 40% of basic depending on your city. It is one of the larger deductions available under the old regime.
A hike percentage and a take-home increase are different numbers — a raise that pushes part of your income into a higher slab delivers less than the headline suggests. And when two offers are in play, the one with the bigger package is often the one carrying more of it in variable pay you may never see.
A bonus is taxed as salary at whatever slabs it falls into — there is no separate bonus rate. Employers often deduct TDS on it at a flat rate, which is why the payslip figure and the real liability rarely match until you file.
Two separate payouts, with separate rules. Gratuity is calculated on basic plus DA and generally needs five years of service. Leave encashment is exempt only up to the lowest of four tests, and the headline ceiling is rarely the one that binds.
CTC is the total your employer spends on you, including employer PF, gratuity provision and often insurance premiums — none of which arrive in your account. Your own PF, professional tax and income tax then come out of what is left. A gap of 20 to 30% between CTC and take-home is normal.
It depends on how much you can actually claim. The old regime is usually better for people with substantial HRA, home-loan interest and 80C investments; the new regime is usually better for people without them. The comparison calculator runs both on your numbers rather than giving a rule of thumb.
Both. A higher basic raises your PF contribution and your gratuity, which is long-term money, but reduces your immediate take-home. It also raises the HRA you can claim. There is no universally correct split, which is why the calculators let you change it.
They are estimates built from stated assumptions, and every page shows those assumptions and the tax year they use. Payroll structures vary by employer, so treat the output as a well-informed starting point and check your actual payslip or offer letter for the specifics.
