New vs old tax regime — how do I actually choose?

There is no universally “better” regime — only the one that suits your numbers. The new regime offers lower headline rates with few deductions; the old regime rewards those who genuinely use deductions like housing, insurance and retirement investments. Where your break-even sits depends entirely on your profile.

Salaried taxpayers can generally re-choose each year at filing time, so the disciplined habit is to compute both ways annually and pick the winner. For business and professional income the switching rules are more restrictive — which makes choosing thoughtfully the first time genuinely valuable.

We run this comparison as a matter of course in our tax work: a few minutes of computation each year, and you keep every rupee the law intends you to keep.