Hardship Allowance Eligibility Tax Exemption Rates Calculator for Teacher And IAS Officer Under 7th Pay Commission

Hardship Allowance|Eligibility Criteria|Tax Exemption|Rates| Calculator for Teacher And IAS Officer Under 7th Pay Commission

The govt. provides some special allowances to the employees of various departments who risk their lives and wellbeing to perform some tough or hazardous tasks which involve a certain limit of hardship or danger. This special type of allowance provided by the govt. to the employees for pushing their limits is known as Hardship Allowance.  A large portion of these allowances go to the members of the defence forces as well as the paramilitary forces of the nation. Employees of several other departments get hardship allowances like bad weather allowance, coal pilot allowance, cooking allowance, handicapped allowance, metropolitan allowance, etc.

Hardship Allowance Eligibility Tax Exemption Rates Calculator for Teacher And IAS Officer

  • Hardship Allowance Eligibility Criteria

Those employees will get hardship allowances who will be posted in the hardship stations to perform tasks which need extra efforts or involve some risks. Every govt. employee can get this hardship allowance if their posting is in such an area where it is very high altitude like as in Siachen, or they also get hardship allowance for staying in metropolitan city where living costs are sky high. A major portion of the hardship allowance given by the govt. goes to the civil servants and the paramilitary forces. They are often posted in several tough terrains and are exposed to several hazards.

  • Hardship Allowance policy in India 

The Ministry of Human Resource has laid several guidelines on the hardship allowance policies in the country. The ministry has thoroughly described which tasks or course of actions will be considered for the Risk and Hardship Allowances. The HRAs are calculated on the basis of the ranks or the pay bands which the employees fall. This calculation is done on the basis of risk and hardship matrix. This hardship allowance is then added to the per month salary of the employee.

  • Hardship Allowance rates

The rates of the hardship allowances are determined by using the risk and hardship matrix provided by the Govt. This matrix has levels of risks and hardships like low, medium and high. These rates of hardship allowances are applicable for every departments like defence forces, paramilitary forces, railways, fire department, etc. There were nine levels or rates of hardship allowances but in the recommendations of the 7th pay commission, a new level of hardship allowance for the soldiers and officers deputed for duty in Siachen glarier. This Siachen hardship allowance will have the maximum benefit in the risk and hardship matrix. Following are the rates of the hardship allowance for different levels:

Sl. No. Category of risk and hardship Level Rate (Rs. per month)
1 Max Risk and Hardship (Siachen allowance) >=9 31,500
2 Max Risk and Hardship (Siachen allowance) <=8 21,000
3 R1H1 >=9 25,000
4 R1H1 <=8 17,300
5 R1H2 >=9 16,900
6 R1H2 <=8 9,700
7 R1H3 >=9 5,300
8 R1H3 <=8 4,100
9 R2H1 >=9 16,900
10 R2H1 <=8 9,700
11 R2H2 >=9 10,500
12 R2H2 <=8 6,000
13 R2H3 >=9 3,400
14 R2H3 <=8 2,700
15 R3H1 >=9 5,300
16 R3H1 <=8 4,100
17 R3H2 >=9 3,400
18 R3H2 <=8 2,700
19 R3H3 >=9 1,200
20 R3H3 <=8 1,000

  • Hardship Allowance calculation

To calculate the rates of the hardship allowance, the risk and hardship matrix is to be followed. At first, the nature of hardship is to be located in the RHA matrix. The levels of risks and hardships are high, medium and low. These rates will be increased after the DA gets hiked by 50 %. The applying factor for most hardship allowance calculations is 1.5.

  • Hardship Allowance is taxable or not

Some hardship allowances are taxable where as some are not. Hardship allowances like foreign allowance, outfit allowance, kit maintenance allowance, gallantry awards, etc are not taxable. Whereas other hardship allowances like hostel subsidy, entertainment allowance, LTC, HRA, etc fall under tax.

  • Hardship Allowance for teachers

The teachers, who sustain in tough situations to perform their duties, thus get several hardship allowances. This allowance is added to the salary every month. They get monthly hardship allowance from the govt. along with their regular salary. After the implementation of the 7th pay commission, the structures of the hardship allowance for teachers are expected to get revised.

  • Hardship Allowance for IAS

In India, the IAS officers deputed under central govt. as well as several state govt. are eligible for the hardship allowance for performing duty in tough working situations. They enjoy high rates of hardship allowances compared to the defence servicemen. They get around 30 % more salary when posted outside normal working stations in form of hardship allowances.

Other Articles :