Form 121 Has Replaced Forms 15G and 15H — How to Stop TDS on Interest from 1 April 2026

1What changed on 1 April 2026

Forms 15G and 15H were creatures of the Income Tax Act 1961. When the Income Tax Act 2025 took effect, the declaration was rebuilt as Form 121 under section 393(6), read with Rule 211 of the Income Tax Rules 2026.

The headline change is consolidation. There were two forms because the old law split declarants by age: 15G for those under 60, 15H for senior citizens, each with slightly different conditions. Form 121 is one form for residents of every age. If you are a resident individual, this is your form, whether you are 25 or 85.

The practical trap is that the old forms are still everywhere — in bank branches, in downloadable PDF libraries, in half the guides online, and in the memory of anyone who has done this before. A form 15G handed in today does not stop TDS on a deposit made now.

2Who can file Form 121

• Resident individuals of any age — the 60-year threshold no longer decides the form
• Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs)
• Other specified eligible entities meeting the stipulated criteria

3Who cannot file it

• Companies
• Partnership firms
• Non-residents — this remains a declaration for residents only

4The one condition that matters

Form 121 rests on a single test: your estimated total tax liability for the tax year must be nil. You are declaring, in advance, that when the year is totted up you will owe nothing.

Note carefully that this is a test on tax payable, not on income. Under the new regime the rebate makes income up to ₹12,00,000 tax-free, so a person can have substantial interest income and still legitimately declare nil tax. Conversely, if you will owe even a small amount, you do not qualify, and filing anyway is a false declaration rather than a clever tax move.

Work out the estimate honestly before you sign. The threshold is your whole tax position for the year, not just the interest from the bank you are handing the form to.

5Which incomes it covers

• Interest on deposits — the classic fixed-deposit and recurring-deposit case
• Dividends
• Rental income
• Provident fund withdrawals
• Pension payments
• Insurance commission
• Mutual fund income
• Life insurance policy payouts

6How to file it properly

Form 121 goes to the payer, not to the Income Tax Department. The bank, company or tenant paying you is the person who needs it, because they are the one deciding whether to deduct.

File a separate declaration with every payer. Three banks means three forms — a declaration given to one bank does nothing at another, and the TDS thresholds under section 194A are computed bank by bank in any case.

Timing is unforgiving. The declaration must reach the payer before the income is paid or credited. TDS already deducted cannot be undone by a late form; at that point your only route is to claim the refund when you file your return, which means waiting a year for money you need not have parted with.

A valid PAN is mandatory. A declaration without PAN is invalid, and without PAN the payer must deduct at the higher rates under the no-PAN provisions anyway.

It lasts one tax year. This is the step people forget: the form is not standing instruction, and it must be filed afresh each year.

7What happens to the 15G and 15H you already filed

Declarations validly made before 1 April 2026 remain valid for the year they were given for. Nothing is retrospectively undone and there is no need to re-file for a period already covered.

But they do not carry forward. For income arising on or after 1 April 2026 the declaration must be Form 121, and a bank still holding your old 15H from last year has nothing current on file for you.

8Getting it wrong cuts both ways

A false declaration is not a small matter. You are certifying an estimate of your own tax liability, and declaring nil when you know tax will be payable is a misstatement to the payer that can attract penalty and prosecution provisions.

The opposite error is more common and quietly expensive: not filing when you were entitled to. The bank deducts, the money leaves, and you recover it only by filing a return and waiting for the refund. For a retired person living on deposit interest, that is a real cash-flow cost created by nothing more than a missed piece of paper.

The honest middle case deserves a mention too. If your estimate is made in good faith and your circumstances change during the year — an unexpected capital gain, say — you have not committed a wrong. Tell the payer, and settle the tax through advance tax or at filing.

9A quick checklist before you sign

• Confirm your estimated tax for the tax year is genuinely nil, counting all income and not just this deposit
• Use Form 121 — not a 15G or 15H PDF, whatever the branch hands you
• Check your PAN is correct on the form; without it the declaration is invalid
• File one with each payer separately
• Get it in before the interest is credited, not after
• Diarise it for next year — the declaration expires with the tax year
• Keep the acknowledgement; it is your evidence that the payer was told