Section 80U Disability Deduction
Section 80U provides a flat deduction to an individual taxpayer who is certified as a person with disability — ₹75,000 for disability of 40% or more, and ₹1.25 lakh for severe disability of 80% or more.
Section 80U is a personal deduction available to the individual taxpayer themselves, as opposed to Section 80DD which covers expenditure on a disabled dependent. The deduction is not linked to actual expenditure; it is a fixed flat amount, making it simple to claim once the eligibility condition is met.
Disability must be certified by a medical authority as defined under the Persons with Disabilities Act. Eligible disabilities include blindness, low vision, leprosy-cured, hearing impairment, locomotor disability, mental retardation, mental illness, and autism, as defined under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 or the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act 1999.
For disability of 40% to 79%, the deduction is ₹75,000. For disability of 80% and above (termed severe disability), the deduction is ₹1.25 lakh. These amounts are fixed irrespective of income level, so they provide proportionately larger tax relief to those in higher tax brackets.
The certificate from a medical authority (typically a civil surgeon or a medical board at a government hospital) must be obtained and may have to be renewed if issued for a specified period. The taxpayer must furnish this certificate if called for by the assessing officer. Submitting a certificate that is expired or not from a recognised medical authority can result in denial of the deduction during scrutiny.
Section 80U cannot be claimed together with Section 80DD for the same disability — one is for the disabled person's own return and the other is for a caregiver's return. A taxpayer who has a disability and also takes care of a disabled dependent can claim both — 80U in their own ITR and 80DD for the dependent — as these cover different situations.
From a practical standpoint, many eligible individuals miss this deduction simply because they are unaware that a certified disability grants an automatic flat deduction without any spending requirement. Tax-filing assistants and online ITR portals increasingly flag this for applicable individuals.