Rent receipts for HRA: what tenants and landlords need

If you rent a home and get house rent allowance (HRA) from your employer, your employer will ask for rent receipts for HRA, and sometimes for your landlord's PAN. If you are the landlord, your tenant will ask you to sign them. This post explains what a rent receipt should show, when the landlord's PAN is needed under the new income tax rules, whether receipts help under the new tax regime, and what to keep on record, with a worked example. It is general information, not tax or legal advice: check your own case with your employer or your CA.

What a rent receipt should show

A rent receipt is the landlord's written note that they received rent from the tenant. There is no single official layout, so the list below is our checklist. A clear receipt shows:

• A receipt number and date: the date the rent was paid.
• Who paid and who received it: the tenant's and the landlord's names.
• The amount: in figures and in words, for example ₹22,000 (Rupees twenty-two thousand only).
• The period: the month, or the months, the rent covers.
• The rented home: its full address.
• How it was paid: UPI, bank transfer, cheque or cash, with the reference or cheque number.
• The landlord's PAN: when the yearly rent is more than ₹1 lakh (see below).
• The landlord's signature.

Ask your employer whether they want one receipt for each month or one for the whole period, and whether they also need a copy of the rent agreement. Monthly receipts match monthly payments and are easier to check against a bank statement. If the rent went up during the year, make one set of receipts at the old rent and another at the new rent from the month it changed, so each receipt matches what was paid. If each month was paid by its own cheque, write each cheque number on that month's receipt rather than one number on all of them.

HRA claims and Form No. 124

The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from 1 April 2026, as the Income Tax Department's FAQs on the transition explain, and new forms came with the Income-tax Rules, 2026. The statement an employee gives the employer for claims such as HRA, leave travel and home loan interest is now Form No. 124, earlier Form 12BB. It is filed under section 392(5)(b) of the new Act read with rule 205, along with the evidence for each claim: for HRA, that means your rent receipts.

The employer uses Form No. 124 to decide how much HRA to treat as exempt when it works out the tax it deducts from your salary. If you did not give receipts to your employer, the Income Tax Department's return help for salaried individuals lists rent receipts among the documents you need to work out HRA yourself when you file.

When the landlord's PAN is needed

The Income Tax Department's FAQs on Form No. 124 say the landlord's PAN must be given when the rent for the year is more than ₹1,00,000. Over a full year, that is any rent above ₹8,333 a month. The same ₹1 lakh limit applied under the old Form 12BB, so the rule has not changed with the new Act.

If your landlord does not have a PAN, ask your employer what they accept instead. Check the PAN against the landlord's PAN card before you submit it, so the PAN in Form No. 124 is right.

Old regime or new regime

Rent receipts reduce your tax only if you claim the HRA exemption, and that exemption is not available under the new tax regime. The Income Tax Department's FAQs on the new and old tax regimes list HRA among the exemptions you give up in the new regime. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, the new regime is in section 202, which works out income without exemptions for allowances.

So before you collect a year of receipts, decide with your CA which regime suits you. Our suggestion: keep them anyway, in case you or your CA decide on the old regime for the year.

Revenue stamps and payment records

Revenue stamp. Article 53 of Schedule I to the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 charges a stamp duty of one rupee on a receipt for money of more than ₹5,000, and the article lists exemptions. Whether duty applies to your rent receipts is a question for your CA. Our Rent Receipt Generator can leave a box for a revenue stamp next to the landlord's signature.

Payment records. A receipt says the rent was paid; the bank or UPI record proves it. Pay rent by UPI or bank transfer where you can, and keep the reference with each receipt. If the landlord wants to be paid by UPI, our post on UPI QR codes explains how a QR code for a fixed amount works.

TDS on rent. If your rent is high, you may have to deduct TDS from it yourself, even as an individual tenant. The Income Tax Department's guide on TDS on rent by certain individuals explains when. Our tools do not work out TDS, so ask your CA if your rent is close to the limit.

Worked example: a flat in Gachibowli, Hyderabad

Rohit Menon is a made-up salaried employee who rents a flat in Gachibowli, Hyderabad from a made-up landlord, Lakshmi Reddy. The rent is ₹22,000 a month, paid by UPI on the 5th of each month. Rohit has chosen the old tax regime for tax year 2026-27, and in October 2026 his employer asks for receipts for April to September.

• Receipts: six, one for each month from April to September 2026, each dated on the 5th, when the rent was paid.
• Total so far: ₹1,32,000. A full year at this rent is ₹2,64,000, more than ₹1 lakh, so Lakshmi's PAN goes in Form No. 124.
• Payment reference: each receipt notes that the rent was paid by UPI.
• Stamp: each receipt is for more than ₹5,000, so Rohit leaves a box for a revenue stamp and asks his CA whether duty applies.
• Signature: Lakshmi signs all six; Rohit keeps a copy with the UPI history for the same months.

Rohit types the names, the address, the rent and the months into our Rent Receipt Generator. It makes one receipt for each month (up to 12 at a time) or one for the whole period, writes each amount in words, adds up the rent by financial year, checks the shape of the landlord's PAN and warns when the year's rent is more than ₹1 lakh. It can leave a box for a revenue stamp, flags receipts dated after today, and prints one or two receipts on each A4 page or saves a PDF. It runs in the browser; only your own details are kept there, and it does not work out HRA or tax.

For landlords

Signing receipts for rent you received is simple, and it helps your tenant. A few points for your side:

• Sign only for rent you received, for the right months and the right amount.
• Keep a copy of each receipt, with your bank or UPI statement.
• Give the tenant your PAN in writing when the year's rent is above ₹1 lakh, so it goes into Form No. 124 correctly.
• Show the rent in your own income tax return. Your CA can tell you how it is taxed.
• For a security deposit, maintenance or a part payment, use our Payment Receipt Maker. It records a full payment, a part payment with the balance left, or an advance, with the amount in words.

Mistakes to avoid

• Receipts for rent not paid. Make receipts only for rent already paid, dated when it was paid.
• A missing or wrong PAN when the year's rent is more than ₹1 lakh.
• Collecting receipts under the new regime and expecting the HRA exemption.
• Cash with no record. If you pay in cash, a signed receipt is your only proof; UPI or a bank transfer leaves a record.
• Amounts that do not match the rent agreement or the payments in your bank statement.
• Unsigned receipts. Each printed receipt needs the landlord's signature.

HRA appears as its own line on a salary slip; our post on what a salary slip should show explains the rest of the slip.

Your next step

Open the Rent Receipt Generator, type the rent and the months, add the landlord's PAN if the year's rent is above ₹1 lakh, print the receipts and get them signed. Then give them to your employer with Form No. 124. More receipt and payment tools are on our free tools page, and you can contact us with a question about the tools.