Salary Arrears Calculator India

Compare the pay you received with the revised amount to estimate salary arrears. Use Quick Calculation for one consistent monthly difference, or switch to Month-by-Month when pay changed during the arrear period.

Calculate salary arrears

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Use the same salary components on both sides—for example, old gross pay vs revised gross pay, or old Basic + DA vs revised Basic + DA.
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For a partial month or changing salary, use Month-by-Month mode and enter the actual payroll amounts.
Arrears From
Arrears To
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MonthActually PaidShould Have Been PaidDifference
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Use for a confirmed additional payroll amount that belongs in the arrear settlement.
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Enter deductions shown in payroll if you want a net payment estimate. This tool does not automatically calculate TDS, PF, NPS, GPF or professional tax.
CalculationRevised pay − paid pay
Tax frameworkIncome-tax Act, 2025
Arrears reliefSection 157
Current relief formForm 39

How to Use the Salary Arrears Calculator

Use Quick Calculation when the same old and revised monthly pay figures apply throughout the arrear period. Enter the pay actually used, the revised pay that should have applied, and the number of months. The calculator subtracts the old amount from the revised amount and multiplies the difference by the period.

Use Month-by-Month when the values changed during the period—for example, a promotion took effect partway through the arrears period, an increment changed the revised amount, or different months were paid differently. The detailed mode generates editable rows so the calculation follows the actual payroll history rather than forcing one monthly difference across the whole period.

What Are Salary Arrears?

Salary arrears are amounts relating to an earlier salary period that become payable later, commonly because a salary revision, increment, promotion or correction takes retrospective effect. If a revised salary is effective from January but payroll starts paying it from April, the difference for January through March can become arrears.

Arrears are not always the same as unpaid salary. Unpaid salary is an amount that became due but was not paid at all. Salary arrears usually refer to a difference caused by a retrospective change or correction. The arithmetic can overlap, but the payroll reason is different.

Salary Arrears Formula

Quick calculation: Monthly Difference = Revised Monthly Pay − Old Monthly Pay. Gross Arrears = Monthly Difference × Arrear Period. Estimated Net Arrears = Gross Arrears + Additional Due − Amount Already Paid − Entered Deductions.

The most important input rule is consistency. Old Monthly Pay and Revised Monthly Pay must represent the same salary basis. Comparing old Basic pay with revised gross salary produces a misleading difference. Compare gross with gross, Basic + DA with Basic + DA, or another equivalent payroll basis with the same basis after revision.

How to Calculate Arrears After a Salary Revision

Suppose old monthly pay was ₹45,000 and revised monthly pay is ₹50,000. The monthly difference is ₹5,000. If the revision applies retrospectively for six months, gross arrears are ₹5,000 × 6 = ₹30,000. If ₹10,000 was already paid toward the arrears, the remaining estimate becomes ₹20,000 before any other entered deductions.

If revised pay is lower than old pay, the calculator does not label the negative number as “salary arrears payable.” It switches the result to a neutral adjustment/recovery wording. That is arithmetic only and does not by itself establish that an employer has a legally recoverable debt.

How to Calculate Month-by-Month Arrears

Detailed mode calculates each month as the amount that should have been paid minus the amount actually paid. It then sums all monthly differences. Negative months are retained instead of being discarded, because an overpayment in one month can reduce the overall arithmetic difference.

For example, January and February might each have a ₹5,000 difference while March has a ₹7,000 difference after a further pay change. The correct gross arrears are ₹17,000, not ₹15,000 or ₹21,000. This is why month-by-month rows are more reliable when salary changed within the arrear period.

Salary Arrears After a Promotion

A backdated promotion can alter pay from a particular effective date, and another increment or allowance revision may occur later. Rather than adding promotion-specific pay-matrix fields to a general calculator, use Month-by-Month mode and enter the payroll amount paid and the amount that should have been paid for each month.

Back Pay vs Salary Arrears

“Back pay” is often used broadly for money relating to earlier work periods. “Salary arrears” is commonly used when a revised or corrected salary applies retrospectively. In everyday payroll discussions the terms can overlap, but the calculator is primarily designed for retrospective salary differences.

How to Handle a Partial Month

Quick mode deliberately uses whole months. Partial-month salary can depend on the employer's proration method and the number of payable days. Calculate the correct partial-month amount first, then enter the actual paid and revised due amounts in Month-by-Month mode. For a dedicated proration calculation, use the Salary Proration Calculator.

How DA Arrears Are Different

Dearness Allowance arrears are a specific percentage-based revision and can require Basic Pay plus old and revised DA rates. This general calculator can reproduce the arithmetic when you already know the old and revised monthly amounts, but it intentionally does not add DA-specific fields to the main form. If the arrears arise only from a DA revision, use the DA Arrears Calculator.

Are Salary Arrears Taxable?

Salary arrears are not automatically tax-free. Under Section 15 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, arrears of salary paid or allowed in a tax year are chargeable under the head Salaries where they have not already been charged to tax for an earlier tax year. The final tax effect depends on the employee's overall tax position, so this calculator does not subtract a generic TDS or tax percentage.

An employer may deduct TDS when arrears are paid, but TDS is not necessarily the employee's final tax liability. Likewise, PF, NPS, GPF and other deductions can depend on the salary components, employment scheme and payroll treatment. If you already know a payroll deduction amount, enter it manually under Adjustments.

Tax Relief for Salary Arrears

Receiving several months or years of earlier salary in one tax year can bunch income into the year of receipt. Section 157 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 provides relief for specified receipts, including qualifying salary arrears or advance salary, where the statutory conditions are satisfied. The relief calculation needs current-year and earlier-year income and tax data, so it is kept separate from this salary-arrears calculator.

Section 157 and Form 39

For the new Income-tax Act, 2025 framework, the Income Tax Department identifies Form No. 39 as the form for claiming relief under Section 157(1) for qualifying additional salary and other specified receipts. The Income-tax Rules, 2026 contain the detailed relief computation method. The Tax Year concept under the new Act applies from 1 April 2026, beginning with Tax Year 2026–27.

Form 39 vs Form 10E

The transition matters. Form 10E belongs to the older Income-tax Act, 1961 Section 89 framework and is still relevant to older assessment-year cases governed by that Act. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025 framework, the current form for Section 157 relief is Form 39. It is therefore inaccurate to tell every arrears recipient in 2026 to “always file Form 10E,” and it is equally inaccurate to say Form 39 replaces every historical Form 10E case.

Worked Salary Arrears Examples

ScenarioCalculationResult
Simple revision(₹50,000 − ₹45,000) × 6₹30,000
Partial arrear already paid₹30,000 − ₹10,000₹20,000
Additional confirmed due₹30,000 + ₹5,000₹35,000
All adjustments₹30,000 + ₹5,000 − ₹10,000 − ₹2,000₹23,000
No pay was originally received(₹30,000 − ₹0) × 2₹60,000

Common Salary Arrears Calculation Mistakes

  • Comparing old Basic pay with revised gross salary instead of using the same components on both sides.
  • Multiplying one monthly difference across a period in which salary changed more than once.
  • Forgetting a partial arrear payment that has already been received.
  • Automatically deducting PF, NPS, GPF or a generic TDS percentage without payroll data.
  • Treating DA arrears and a general salary revision as the same calculation.
  • Calling a negative arithmetic difference “arrears payable” instead of an adjustment/recovery estimate.
  • Assuming salary arrears are tax-free.
  • Using only old Section 89 / Form 10E guidance for new Income-tax Act, 2025 cases.

Frequently Asked Questions

Subtract the amount actually paid from the revised amount that should have been paid for the same salary basis. Multiply the monthly difference by the number of applicable months when the figures are constant.
Yes. Use Quick mode if one old/revised pair applies throughout the period. Use Month-by-Month if the promotion or later increment changes the amount during the arrear period.
Use Month-by-Month mode. Enter the amount actually paid and the amount that should have been paid for each month so each difference is calculated separately.
Yes, but first determine the correct partial-month paid and revised amounts using the applicable payroll proration method. Enter those actual amounts in the relevant monthly row.
They can be. Section 15 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 includes arrears of salary paid or allowed in the tax year where they were not already taxed in an earlier tax year.
Section 157 provides a relief mechanism for specified receipts including qualifying salary arrears or advance salary where bunching the income into one tax year produces the statutory higher-tax condition.
Form 39 is the current form under the Income-tax Rules, 2026 for claiming relief under Section 157(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 for qualifying additional salary and other specified receipts.
It remains relevant to cases governed by the older Income-tax Act, 1961 Section 89 framework. New Income-tax Act, 2025 Section 157 cases use Form 39, so the correct form depends on the transition period that applies.
An employer may deduct TDS when arrears are paid, but the TDS amount is not necessarily your final tax liability. This calculator does not assume a generic TDS percentage.
It depends on the salary component, employment scheme and payroll rules that apply. Enter a confirmed payroll deduction manually rather than assuming one in the calculator.
The arithmetic works if you already know the old and revised monthly amounts, but a dedicated DA calculator is better when the change is driven by Basic Pay and old/new DA percentages.
The calculator shows a neutral estimated adjustment/recovery rather than negative salary arrears. It does not decide whether that amount is legally recoverable.

Related Calculators

DA Arrears Calculator Salary Proration Calculator Salary Increment Calculator CTC to In-Hand Salary Calculator Full and Final Settlement Calculator

Official Sources & Methodology

This calculator estimates arrears from the salary figures and adjustments you enter. Actual payroll may differ where salary components, partial months, statutory deductions or tax treatment vary by period.