Form 15G and 15H Are Gone: Everything You Need to Know About the New Income Tax Act 2025 and Form 121

If you have been submitting Form 15G or Form 15H to your bank every year to avoid TDS on your interest income, here is something you absolutely must know before your next visit to the bank: both these forms have been officially abolished. Effective April 1, 2026, the Income Tax Act, 2025 has replaced these two long-standing forms with a single, unified declaration — Form 121. This is not a minor procedural tweak. It is one of the most significant structural changes in India’s tax compliance landscape in decades, and every salaried professional, senior citizen, fixed deposit holder, and small investor needs to understand exactly what this means for them.

Why the Old System Needed to Change

For over three decades, Indian taxpayers dealt with two separate forms to prevent Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on interest income — Form 15G for individuals below 60 years and Form 15H for senior citizens aged 60 and above. While the purpose of both forms was identical — a self-declaration that your total income falls below the taxable threshold and hence no TDS should be deducted — the requirement to maintain two separate forms created unnecessary confusion, administrative burden, and frequent errors. Taxpayers routinely filed the wrong form, banks faced reconciliation issues, and the duplication inflated compliance costs across the system. The Income Tax Act, 2025, which officially replaced the 1961 Act from April 1, 2026, addressed this directly by consolidating everything under one roof.

The broader reform is sweeping in scale. The new Act has trimmed the number of sections from 819 down to 536, reduced rules from 511 to 333, and cut the total number of forms from 390 to approximately 190. The abolition of Form 15G and 15H is just one part of a deliberate effort to make India’s tax compliance ecosystem leaner, clearer, and more digitally integrated.

What Is Form 121?

Form 121 is the new unified self-declaration form introduced under Section 393(6) of the Income Tax Act, 2025, governed by Rule 211 of the Income Tax Rules, 2026. It corresponds to the provisions previously covered under Sections 197A(1), 197A(1A), and 197A(1C) of the old Income Tax Act, 1961. The old Rule 29C that governed Form 15G and 15H has been replaced by Rule 211.

The most defining feature of Form 121 is that it is age-neutral. Whether you are 35 years old with a savings account earning interest or a 68-year-old retiree with multiple fixed deposits, you now use the same form. The differentiation between “below 60” and “60 and above” that existed purely for administrative reasons has been removed. The purpose of the declaration remains the same: you are certifying to the deductor (your bank, mutual fund house, or other financial institution) that your estimated total income for the financial year falls below the taxable threshold and therefore no TDS should be deducted on specified income.

Key Differences: Old Forms vs. Form 121

Understanding exactly what has changed helps you avoid mistakes during the current financial year 2026-27.

Who Is Eligible to File Form 121?

Eligibility for Form 121 is defined clearly under the new Act, and it is important not to assume that eligibility automatically carries over from the old forms.

• Resident individuals of any age whose estimated total income for the tax year results in NIL tax liability
• Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) with NIL estimated tax liability
• Other specified entities meeting criteria laid out under the new rules
• Taxpayers with a valid and active PAN linked to the relevant bank or demat account
• Anyone who is not a company, firm, or non-resident — these categories remain excluded

The fundamental condition remains unchanged from the old system: the total estimated income for the financial year must be such that the tax computed on it is nil. For Form 15H under the old law, senior citizens had a slight advantage — they could file even if their income exceeded the basic exemption limit, as long as the tax on that income was nil due to deductions and rebates. Under Form 121, this principle broadly continues, but the age-based distinction is gone — the criterion is simply zero tax liability, applicable to everyone equally.

Income Types Covered Under Form 121

Form 121 can be submitted across a broad range of income-generating instruments and transactions, just as the old forms could be used beyond mere bank interest:

• Interest income from savings bank accounts and fixed deposits
• Interest on recurring deposits
• Income from National Savings Certificates (NSC)
• Dividends from equity and mutual funds
• Interest on corporate bonds and debentures
• EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund) withdrawal proceeds
• Insurance maturity proceeds that attract TDS
• Rental income in certain applicable cases

What Changed in Form 26AS: Now Form 168

Another critical change running parallel to Form 121 is the transformation of Form 26AS. Under the old law, Form 26AS was essentially a tax credit statement — it showed TDS deducted by employers, banks, and other deductors. Starting April 1, 2026, this form has been renamed Form 168 and carries a significantly expanded mandate. It now integrates data from the Annual Information Statement (AIS), reflecting a much wider range of financial transactions including high-value purchases, foreign remittances, mutual fund investments, and property transactions. This means the government now has a far more comprehensive financial picture of every taxpayer, making accurate self-declaration in Form 121 more important than ever. Any mismatch between what you declare and what Form 168 reflects will attract scrutiny.

How to File Form 121 for TDS Exemption at Your Bank

Filing Form 121 is more streamlined than the old process, and for most taxpayers it can be done entirely online through their bank’s net banking portal. Here is a step-by-step walkthrough of the complete process:

Step 1: Determine Your Eligibility
Before filing, calculate your estimated total income for the financial year 2026-27. Include all sources — salary, interest, rental income, pension, dividends, and any other receipts. If the tax computed on this total income is nil (after applying applicable deductions under the new Act), you are eligible to file Form 121.

Step 2: Gather Required Documents and Information
Keep the following ready before you begin filling out the form — your PAN card, Aadhaar number, the account numbers and identification numbers of all investments or fixed deposits for which you are seeking TDS exemption, details of estimated income from each source, and the name and TAN of the deductor (your bank or financial institution).

Step 3: Access the Form
You can file Form 121 through two channels. The first is through your bank’s official net banking portal — log in, navigate to the TDS declarations or tax section, and look for the Form 121 option (banks are in the process of updating their portals from the old 15G/15H interface). The second channel is the Income Tax Department’s official e-filing portal at incometaxindia.gov.in, where the form is available under the forms section.

Step 4: Fill in the Declaration Details
The form requires you to provide your full name, PAN, residential status (must be resident), communication address, email ID, and phone number. You must then enter your assessment year (AY 2027-28 for FY 2026-27), your estimated total income from all sources, the income for which you are requesting TDS non-deduction, the nature of that income, the section under which TDS would otherwise be deducted, and the account/FD/NSC identification numbers for each instrument.

Step 5: Make the Declaration
The core of Form 121 is a self-declaration confirming that the income stated is accurate, that your PAN is valid and active, that you are a resident individual (or HUF or specified entity), and that based on your estimated income, your tax liability for the year is nil. Signing this declaration — physically on a printed form or digitally on an online portal — carries legal weight. A false declaration can attract penalties under the new Act.

Step 6: Submit to the Deductor
Unlike the old system where you had to submit separate Form 15G or Form 15H to each bank branch or financial institution individually, the new system issues a single identification number that tracks your Form 121 submission across accounts and institutions. This is a major practical improvement. If you have fixed deposits in three different banks and a mutual fund SIP generating dividends, a single Form 121 submission (with the identification number shared across deductors) streamlines the entire process considerably.

Step 7: Submit at the Beginning of the Financial Year
Form 121, like the old forms, is valid for one financial year only. You must submit it at the start of each financial year — ideally in April itself — before interest for the first quarter is credited. If you miss the deadline and TDS is already deducted, you can claim a refund when filing your Income Tax Return, but preventing the deduction upfront is always more convenient.

Step 8: Keep Your Acknowledgment
After submission, whether online or physical, always retain the acknowledgment receipt with the unique identification number. This is your proof of compliance and is essential if any TDS-related discrepancy arises during the year.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Transitioning to any new form brings the risk of errors, especially when habits built over years need to change:

• Do not submit old Form 15G or Form 15H for FY 2026-27 onwards — they are invalid and will not be accepted
• Do not file Form 121 if you are a non-resident Indian (NRI), company, or firm — these categories are explicitly excluded
• Do not underestimate your income when declaring — the declaration must cover all income sources, not just interest
• Do not skip annual renewal — Form 121 is valid for one tax year only and must be refiled every April
• Do not file if income from the relevant source is to be clubbed with another person’s income (for example, a minor’s income clubbed with a parent’s)

What This Means for Senior Citizens Specifically

Senior citizens who relied on Form 15H have historically had a simpler route — even if gross interest income exceeded the basic exemption limit, as long as the final tax liability was nil, they could file Form 15H. Under Form 121, this advantage is preserved in spirit, since the eligibility criterion is nil tax liability regardless of age. What changes is the process: senior citizens no longer need to identify a separate, age-specific form. They use the same Form 121 as any other taxpayer. For those who visit bank branches for physical submission, this eliminates the common situation of being handed the wrong form by a bank representative unfamiliar with the age distinction.

The Road Ahead for Digital Compliance

The shift from Form 15G/15H to Form 121 reflects a broader trend in India’s tax administration — moving toward fewer, smarter, and more digitally traceable forms. The new system, where a single identification number tracks your TDS declaration across multiple deductors, is a step toward real-time verification. Banks and other deductors are now required to report received Form 121 declarations to the Income Tax Department electronically using the new Form No. 140, replacing the old quarterly upload mechanism. This creates a more transparent audit trail, reduces the risk of duplicate filings, and makes it harder for fraudulent declarations to slip through.

For the ordinary taxpayer — the salaried professional with a few fixed deposits, the retiree living on pension and interest income, the housewife with NSC investments — Form 121 is genuinely simpler to deal with. One form, one submission process, one identification number. The Income Tax Act, 2025 has, at least in this area, delivered on its promise of reduced compliance burden. The key is to act early, file Form 121 at the start of every financial year, keep your PAN active and linked, and ensure your income estimates are honest and comprehensive. Tax compliance is not just a legal obligation — handled correctly, it is one of the most straightforward ways to protect your hard-earned savings from unnecessary deductions throughout the year.