Q.List the deductions available under Section 24 while computing Income from a let-out house property, and state which one of these is NOT available for a self-occupied house whose Annual Value is Nil, giving the reason.

Both Section 24 deductions exist, but one of them can never actually apply once Annual Value is Nil.

Only the interest deduction (subject to its own ceiling) survives for a self-occupied house.

Section 24 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 allows two deductions while computing Income from House Property:

1. Standard Deduction [Section 24(a)] — a flat 30% of Net Annual Value, allowed automatically regardless of actual expenditure.
2. Interest on Borrowed Capital [Section 24(b)] — actual interest on a loan taken for purchase/construction/repair/renewal/reconstruction of the property, deducted in full for a let-out property (no ceiling) or subject to a ₹2,00,000/₹30,000 ceiling for a self-occupied house.

For a self-occupied house, Annual Value is Nil under Section 23(2), which makes Net Annual Value Nil as well — since the Standard Deduction is calculated as a PERCENTAGE OF NAV, 30% of Nil is mathematically Nil, so this deduction has nothing to operate on and is effectively unavailable, even though the SECTION itself is not literally repealed for a self-occupied house. Only the interest deduction under Section 24(b), subject to its own applicable ceiling, remains genuinely available in the self-occupied case.

Students sometimes claim the Standard Deduction is 'not allowed by law' for a self-occupied house, as though it were a separate exclusion rule — the more precise reasoning is that it is mathematically Nil (30% of Nil), not that the law singles it out for denial the way it caps the interest deduction.