BENGALURU: Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya on Tuesday appealed to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to officially declare Bengaluru as a metropolitan city to increase the House Rental Allowance (HRA) deduction permitted to calculate the Income Tax for residents of Bengaluru to 50% of the salary, like in other Metropolitan cities.
Speaking during the Zero Hour Discussion in Parliament, the MP said under existing rules only Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai are considered metropolitan cities, residents of which can claim up to 50% HRA deduction while those of other cities in India, including Bengaluru, can claim only 40% deduction of the salary as HRA.
“Bengaluru has one of the highest salaried workforces in the country. I request the Finance Minister to review the I-T rules and add cities like Bengaluru and such similarly placed cities in the list of metropolitan cities under Income Tax rules for the purpose of HRA Housing Rental Allowance deduction up to 50 per cent,” he said.