I ran my number here and the official site was ₹2,140 more. I did not panic. I went looking for the box I skipped.
Other income, surcharge, or a slab you didnt type. Two thousand gaps are common. File from official.
This page is a FY 2026-27 new regime estimate only. Slabs can change when the budget wants. I do not copy the government utility. I do not file your ITR. The income tax calculator is a helper box. Yearly income. A switch for standard deduction ₹75,000. Cess 4 percent on the tax. That is the width of it.
If you need the number that goes on a return, open the official portal. Always.
What I compute, and what I leave out
Yearly income box. For a simple salaried picture, that can be gross salary, and you leave standard deduction on. Or you already reduced the income and you switch standard deduction off.
I do not have a field for house property, capital gains, crypto, lotteries, or a second house story. If official is 2,000 more, many times you had interest from a FD that you never typed here.
I do not have exemption rows beyond that simple standard deduction switch. New regime is already a short list mood. Still, people have a HRA leftover in their head from old regime and they mix years.
Old regime is not on this page. If you compared my new-regime estimate with a official old-regime computation, the gap can be huge, not 2,000. Different movie. This version is new regime estimate only.
Rebate, cess, surcharge. I apply a simple estimate path. Official engine has more corners. A rebate edge, a rounding, a surcharge threshold you crossed by a bit, those create a few thousand rupees of "why".
Surcharge is how a higher income suddenly looks rude. If you are not in that zone, skip the fear. If you are near a threshold, this small box may miss the step. Official will not miss it.
I will not paste fake slab tables with notification numbers. Those tables go stale and then this article becomes a second wrong calculator. Type income. Read the result as a sketch. Confirm on official.
FY 2026-27 label is on the tool intro for a reason. If you are reading this in a later year, the estimate can be more wrong. I update when we update the tool. I still say estimate.
The usual 2,000-ish reasons I actually hit
FD interest I forgot. ₹12,000 interest, some extra tax, cess on that. Gap lands in the thousands. Official form had the AIS interest. My box had only salary.
Standard deduction double dip. I reduced 75,000 already in the income I typed, and I also left the switch on. Result too low. Official used income once. I "saved" tax on this page that I had already saved. That can look like I am 2,000 or more less than official.
Or the opposite. I typed gross, switched deduction off, official applied it. Then I am higher than official.
A old 2.5 lakh slab chart in the head. People fight the result because a uncle still recites 2018. The fight is not a 2,000 gap, it is a worldview gap. Still, they come to this article title because they saw a number they did not like.
Professional tax is not in this tax tool. PT is on the take-home page. Official income tax computation is not PT. Dont mix.
TDS already deducted is not a tax liability story in the same way. This box is a tax estimate, not a refund estimate. Official site knows your TDS. I dont. If you compare my tax with your refund, you are comparing two different leftover ideas.
I tried this on my last AIS. Salary matched. Interest did not, because I ignored the savings interest. Official was a bit more. I added interest into yearly income and the gap shrank. Not to the rupee. To a shrug.
Employer perquisites that sit in Form 16 Part B and not in your casual "8 lakh CTC" talk. You typed 8,00,000. Taxable was 8,40,000. Official is more. Two thousand is a small version of that. Sometimes the miss is bigger.
How to compare without losing your mind
Use the same year. FY 2026-27 estimate vs a official page that is still on a older year is a waste of a evening.
Use the same regime. New vs new.
Use the same income definition. If official starts from gross salary and applies standard deduction, do the same here. Switch on. Type gross.
Add other income into my yearly income if you want a closer sketch. FD interest, a small freelance, whatever AIS already shows. I still will not handle special rate gains correctly. Those need official or a CA.
Look at tax plus cess, not at "amount payable" after prepaid TDS. My result is not after TDS.
If the gap is ₹50 to ₹300, rounding and cess order can do that. I would not debug further.
If the gap is ₹2,000 to ₹8,000, hunt other income, the 75,000 switch, and whether a rebate edge applied on one side.
If the gap is ₹40,000, you are probably in the wrong regime, wrong year, or you typed monthly salary as yearly. Monthly 80,000 typed as 80000 yearly will look like almost no tax. Official on 9,60,000 will not look like that. That is not a 2,000 story. That is a extra zero story, or a missing zero.
Yearly income. I have to say it like I say months on the EMI page.
Cess 4 percent is in my path. If you compare a number that is tax before cess with my number after cess, you will see a few percent. 4 percent of ₹50,000 is ₹2,000. There. A clean 2,000. Check if one screen is before cess.
I have been that person. Compared a WhatsApp "tax on 12 lakh is X" that forgot cess, with my box that did not forget. Then I wrote a angry note to myself, not to the site.
What this article will not claim
I will not say the official site is wrong. Official wins.
I will not say my 2,000 miss is always cess. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is interest. Sometimes it is a surcharge step. Sometimes I am out of date after a budget.
I will not give a fake rebate amount as if it is frozen law. Rebate rules have moved in recent years. If you sit near a rebate cliff, a small income change moves tax a lot. Official engine knows the current cliff. My estimate tries. It can miss.
I will not compute 87A by a long table here. If your official tax is zero and mine is 2,000, you might be in a rebate zone I sketched differently. File from official. Celebrate later.
I will not do old vs new in this tool. There is a separate article for a rough gap talk, 12 lakh salary, old vs new regime rough gap. Even that is a sketch. Income tax on 8 lakh in the new regime uses the same helper.
Advance tax and interest under late payment sections are not in this box. Official or a CA, if you missed dates.
Agriculture income set-off games, clubbing, and NR stories are above my pay grade on this page.
A checklist I keep next to Form 16
Is my income yearly.
Did I apply standard deduction only once.
Did I add other income from AIS.
Am I looking at new regime on both sides.
Am I looking at tax plus cess, not refund.
Is the official page for the same FY I think I am in.
If yes to all and the gap is still about 2,000, I accept it as estimate noise or a small head I still missed. I file official. I do not file this site.
If I am making a big decision, like extra VPF vs extra EMI, I use official or a person who does this for a living. A 2,000 miss will not break that decision. A wrong regime will.
Take-home page on this site uses the same new-regime estimate slice. If take-home looks 200 a month off, that is about 2,400 a year. Same family. PT and PF also move take-home. Dont blame only tax.
I dont store the income you type. Refresh, gone.
Estimate disclaimer, last time, loud. FY 2026-27 new regime is estimate only. Slabs can change. Do not file from this page. The Income Tax Department utility and your CA, if you have one, win.
When the calculator is 2,000 less, I assume I forgot a box before I assume I am a genius who found a government bug. That assumption has saved my face in the office tax chat. It will save yours.
Type the full income. Flip the 75,000 switch with care. Then go official. That is the habit. The 2,000 is a hint, not a refund.