Free HR tool

Salary Structure Calculator

A salary structure splits a CTC into basic, a housing allowance, employer contributions and a balancing special allowance. Enter the CTC and the percentages your company uses, and this calculator returns every component annually and monthly, with the arithmetic printed so you can check it line by line.

Your CTC and your percentages

Every share starts at zero. There is no standard salary structure to pre-fill: the split is a policy your company sets inside whatever the law where you employ requires, so the percentages have to be yours. Everything runs in your browser.

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% of CTC
% of basic
% of basic
% of basic
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% of basic

Provident fund, gratuity, social insurance and similar contributions are statutory. The rates, the wage ceilings they apply up to, who is eligible and how the base is defined all differ by jurisdiction and are revised from time to time. Enter the rates that apply to you and confirm the structure with your finance or compliance advisor before it goes into an offer letter.

The breakdown

Enter an annual CTC and your percentages to see the full breakdown.

Nothing is pre-filled on purpose. A calculator that opens with an assumed 40% or 50% basic is showing you another company's policy, and the number would still be wrong for yours.

From approved structure to signed offer

A structure is only useful once it reaches a candidate. Pitch N Hire keeps the requisition, the approved band, the offer and the joiner record on one thread, so what was approved is what goes out.

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How this salary structure calculator works

The order matters, because most components are defined against something else rather than against the CTC directly. Basic is set first as a share of CTC. The housing allowance and the employer provisions are then calculated from basic. The employer-side amounts and any non-salary benefits come out of CTC to give gross salary, and the special allowance absorbs the remainder so the components reconcile to the number in the offer.

  • ▸ Basic = CTC × your basic percentage.
  • ▸ Housing allowance = basic × your housing percentage.
  • ▸ Employer retirement and gratuity provisions = basic × the rates you enter.
  • ▸ Gross salary = CTC − employer provisions − non-salary benefits.
  • ▸ Special allowance = gross − basic − housing − other fixed allowances (the balancing figure).
  • ▸ Salary before income tax = gross − the employee retirement deduction.

Why there is no recommended structure here

Plenty of calculators open with a basic salary already set at forty or fifty per cent of CTC. That is a policy decision belonging to a company you have never met, taken under a statutory framework that may not be yours. Contribution rates, wage ceilings, eligibility and the definition of the contribution base differ by jurisdiction and are revised, and a structure that is routine in one country can breach a minimum in another. So every percentage here starts at zero, the tool shows the arithmetic it used, and it says plainly that the structure should be confirmed with your finance or compliance advisor before it goes into an offer letter. It also stops before take-home pay, for the same reason. If you are setting the range the structure sits inside, the salary band and compensation benchmarking entries cover how that is normally done.

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FAQ

Salary structure calculator — FAQs

How do you break a CTC into a salary structure? +
Set basic salary as a percentage of CTC, then calculate the components that are defined against basic — typically the housing allowance and the employer retirement and gratuity provisions. Take the employer-side items and any non-salary benefits out of CTC to get gross salary. Whatever is left of gross after basic, housing and your other fixed allowances becomes the special allowance, which is the balancing figure. This calculator does exactly that and prints each step.
What is the difference between CTC, gross salary and take-home pay? +
CTC is everything the employer spends on the employee, including amounts that never appear on a payslip such as employer retirement contributions, gratuity provisions and insurance premiums. Gross salary is CTC minus those employer-side items, and it is the figure the payslip starts from. Take-home is gross minus employee deductions and income tax. This tool calculates the first two and deliberately stops before tax.
What is the special allowance in a salary structure? +
It is the balancing figure. Once basic, the housing allowance and any other fixed allowances are set, the special allowance absorbs whatever remains of gross salary, which is what makes the components add up to the agreed number. If it goes negative, the percentages you have set add up to more than the CTC and something has to come down — the calculator flags that rather than quietly showing a negative line.
What percentage of CTC should basic salary be? +
There is no universal answer, which is why nothing here is pre-filled. It is a policy your company sets within whatever the law where you employ requires, and there are real trade-offs in both directions: a higher basic increases retirement and gratuity liability and the housing allowance calculated from it, while a low basic can fall short of statutory minimums or of the definitions used for social contributions. Set it with your finance and compliance advisors, not from a web page.
Does this calculator work out income tax or TDS? +
No, and that is deliberate. Income tax depends on the regime the employee elects, the exemptions and investments they declare, and their personal circumstances. A tax number produced from a handful of fields would end up quoted in a salary negotiation and would be wrong often enough to cause a real problem. The calculator reports salary before income tax and stops there.
How are employer retirement and gratuity provisions treated in CTC? +
They are usually shown inside CTC because the employer genuinely spends them, but they are not paid to the employee as monthly cash — retirement contributions go into a fund and a gratuity provision is money set aside against a future obligation. That is why this calculator subtracts them from CTC before computing gross salary, and lists them separately so a candidate can see the difference between what the role costs and what lands in their account.
Is a higher basic salary better for the employee? +
It depends, and the calculator does not take a side. A higher basic raises retirement contributions and the eventual gratuity, which is deferred value, and it usually raises the housing allowance calculated from it. It also raises the employee's own deduction, so monthly cash is lower. Which trade-off suits a particular employee is a personal question, and which is permitted is a compliance one.
Is this salary structure calculator free? +
Yes. It is free, needs no signup, and runs entirely in your browser, so no salary figures are sent anywhere. If you want the approved structure to reach candidates without being retyped, you can ask for a walkthrough of Pitch N Hire, but that is entirely optional.
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