Whether the employee can claim HRA in the case, the rental agreement is in the Father's name of the employee

Dear Friends,

I need your guidance for this issue. We have received rental receipts and a rental agreement from one of our employees for claiming HRA from his Income Tax. He is paying the rent of Rs. 8000/- per month. However, the rental agreement is in his father's name.

Please suggest to me whether we can consider this for Tax exemption. If yes, do we need to take any further documents?

Thanks & Regards,
Rajendra
9449239632

Dear Rajendra,

The employee's father may be living with him. However, since the rental agreement is in his father's name, the rental receipts should also be only in his name. Therefore, it can only be presumed that it is his father who paid the rent, not the employee. How can he claim tax rebate when he's not paid the rent? Strictly speaking, the claim cannot be accepted. Ask him to get a revised rental agreement and receipts in his name in the future if he wants to avail tax rebate under this head.

Thank you, Mr. Umakanthan, for the reply.