Half the internet still says “submit Form 15H”. That form no longer exists for this year's income.
Short answer: from 1 April 2026, the Income Tax Act 2025 replaced Forms 15G and 15H with a single self-declaration, Form 121. File it with each bank or payer at the start of the financial year and no TDS is deducted on your interest — provided your final tax liability for the year is nil. For FY 2025-26 returns being filed now, the old 15G/15H still apply; Form 121 governs income from FY 2026-27 onwards.
Income Tax Act 2025 in force from 1 April 2026 · Figures indicative, as of August 2026
| Until FY 2025-26 | From FY 2026-27 | |
|---|---|---|
| Under 60 | Form 15G | Form 121 (one form, all ages) |
| 60 and above | Form 15H | |
| Validity | One financial year | One financial year — refile every April |
| Where filed | Each bank/payer separately | Each payer — or once via your depository for listed-company interest and dividends (Budget 2026) |
The old 15G/15H asymmetry carries into Form 121. If you are under 60, the payer cannot accept your declaration when the interest you are declaring exceeds the basic exemption limit — even if deductions would make your final tax nil. If you are 60 or above, the only test is the real one: is your final tax liability for the year nil? Thanks to the ₹12 lakh Section 156(2)(a) rebate, a retiree can have several lakh of interest income, zero tax — and a valid Form 121. This is exactly the situation on every corpus ladder we publish.
TDS on interest triggers at ₹1 lakh per bank per year for seniors (₹50,000 for others). Below the threshold, no TDS and no form needed. Above it, without Form 121 the bank deducts 10% (20% if PAN is missing or inoperative), and your only route to the money is filing the ITR and waiting for a refund. The form does not change what you owe — it changes whether you lend the department an interest-free loan for a year.
Banks accept it the same way they accepted 15G/15H — through net banking or the app, usually under "services" or "tax". You need PAN (linked to Aadhaar and operative), the tax year in the new six-digit form (2026-27 is written 202627), and your estimated income. File in April, before the first quarterly interest credit; a form filed in August cannot undo TDS already deducted in June. New FD mid-year? File with that bank at booking.
Filing it falsely. The declaration says your tax is nil. If it is not, the declaration is a false statement to the tax department — penalties and prosecution provisions apply. When in doubt, skip the form and claim the refund.
Forgetting the refile. The form dies every 31 March. The single most common senior-citizen TDS story is a form filed diligently in year one and never again.
For income of FY 2026-27 onwards, no — Form 121 replaced both 15G and 15H from 1 April 2026 under the Income Tax Act 2025. Returns for FY 2025-26, filed during 2026, still use the old forms.
Any resident whose final tax liability for the year will be nil. Under-60 filers face an extra cap — the declared interest must be within the basic exemption limit — while seniors only need nil liability, which the ₹12 lakh rebate makes common.
With every payer whose interest will cross your threshold, yes — the TDS limit is computed per payer. Budget 2026 added one shortcut: a single filing through your depository covers listed-company interest and dividends across companies.
The money is not lost — it appears against your PAN (Form 168, the old 26AS) and comes back as a refund when you file the ITR. Form 121 only prevents the deduction going forward.
Related: The 2025 Act renumbering · Senior FD rates · Corpus ladders
A note on section numbers. The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the Income-tax Act, 1961 with effect from 1 April 2026. Section numbers on this page are those of the 2025 Act. Where you know a provision by its old number, the mapping is: 115BAC → 202, 87A → 156, 16(ia) → 19, 80CCD(2) → 124, 112A → 198, 10(10) → 19(1) Table Sl. Nos. 3-6.
The official pages this page is checked against. If one of them disagrees with us, it wins.
Written and checked by the PaisaSamajh editorial desk · Last reviewed: 24 August 2026 · How we check this →