as union finance minister nirmala sitharaman is expected to announce union budget for the financial year 202324 in the parliament on 1st february 2023 income taxpayers especially the salaried class are pinning high hopes on the current government to introduce some taxrelated relief or change in income tax slabsthe current economic situation of rising interest rates due to the rise in the repo rates has affected the borrowers significantly with increase in emis the salaried class is feeling the strain of a cash flow crunch and they hope the union budget will bring relief and improve their financial situation in 2023 here are some of these expectationsrevamping tax slabscurrently taxpayers have the option to file taxes by opting between two tax regimes which sometimes becomes a confusing task take note that under both the tax regimes your income is exempt from tax up to rs 25 lakh and you dont have to pay any taxes up to the income of rs 5 lakh as you get an exemption of rs 12500 under section 87a of the income tax act considering increase in expenses taxpayers are of the opinion that there is a need to raise the basic tax exemption limit from rs 25 lakh to at least rs 5 lakh or moreincreasing minimum tax exemption limit for home buyerssalaried taxpayers hope for more incentives for affordable housing in the union budget currently homebuyers can claim a deduction up to rs 2 lakh for annual interest paid on housing loan emi under section 24b and up to rs 15 lakh under section 80c for the principal amount paid they expect the 24b limit to be raised upto rs 5 lakh along with an increment in the limit of section 80c up to the extent of rs 3 lakhextending the tax exemption limit for firsttime home buyerssection 80eea of the income tax act of india provides an additional income tax deduction of up to rs 15 lakh for firsttime home buyers this deduction can be availed for a financial year in which the property is purchased in addition to the rs 15 lakh tax deduction available under section 80c of the act to be eligible for this deduction the cost of the property must not exceed rs 45 lakh and the loan amount must not exceed rs 35 lakh however this benefit was only available till 31st march 2022 taxpayers expect that similar benefits should be reintroduced for the upcoming years tooincrease in the limit under section 80 gg for nonsalaried employeessection 80gg of the income tax act of india pertains to deductions for rent paid by individuals who do not receive any house rent allowance hra from their employer or are selfemployed the maximum deduction that can be claimed is the lower of the following rent paid less than 10 of the total income of the individual rs 5000 per month 25 of the total income of the individualto claim the deduction the individual must submit a declaration in form 10ba