Tax benefits for tuition fees of children

I'm working in a private company in Bangalore. My employer provide tax exemption of Rs 1,200 as tuition fee for one child and Rs 2,400 for 2 children in one financial year. However, my brother, who is a state government employee, has no such limit. Why this difference between private sector and government employees?
-R Kannan

There is no differential treatment between private sector and government employees for income tax. Tax benefits for tuition fees of children are available under following two sections of the Income Tax Act:
Section 10: Tax exemption for tuition fee of up to Rs 1,200 (Rs 100 per month) per child for a maximum of two children.
Section 80C: In addition, you can claim tax deduction of up to Rs 1.5 Lakh for the tuition fee under section 80C. However, this is a blanket limit available for several things, such as life insurance premium, investments in PPF, ELSS, NSC, etc., taken together.

This article was originally published on January 23, 2017.