One reason for high tax is the low exemption for the HRA component in his salary. Up to 10% of the basic salary put in the NPS on behalf of the employee is deductible under Section 80CCD(2). There are some tax-free perks, such as reimbursement of newspaper expenses, meal coupons. Sudhir Kaushik of TaxSpanner.com tells readers how readers can optimise their tax by rejigging their income and investments