Form 15H for senior citizens is the self-declaration you give to a bank or other payer to stop them from deducting TDS on your interest income, and it works only when your total tax liability for the year comes out to zero. If you have already submitted Form 15H for Financial Year 2025–26, it stays valid through March 31, 2026. From April 1, 2026 onward, the Central Board of Direct Taxes replaces Form 15H (and Form 15G) with a single unified declaration called Form 121, filed under the Income Tax Act 2025 and Income Tax Rules 2026. The eligibility test and the practical steps are essentially the same; only the form number and a few fields change.
Who Is Eligible to File
Three conditions must all be true. You must be a resident of India for income tax purposes; non-resident Indians cannot file this declaration. Your total tax liability for the year, after every deduction and rebate, must work out to zero. And you must have a valid PAN that is linked and operative. Without a valid PAN, the payer is required to deduct tax at 20 percent or the applicable rate, whichever is higher, no matter what declaration you file.
Age matters for the older Form 15H (which is restricted to those aged 60 and above) but not for the replacement Form 121, which any resident individual or HUF can use once the nil-tax test is met.
When TDS Applies in the First Place
Before filing anything, check whether TDS is even a concern. Banks, post offices, and cooperative banks do not deduct TDS on interest paid to a senior citizen up to ₹50,000 per year. This limit is applied separately by each institution, so a fixed deposit at three different banks gets three separate ₹50,000 cushions.1Income Tax Department. Senior Citizens and Super Senior Citizens for AY 2026-2027
If your interest from any single bank stays under ₹50,000, no TDS is deducted and no form is needed. The declaration matters when interest from one institution crosses that threshold and your overall tax for the year is still nil.
How to Confirm Your Tax Liability Is Nil
The test is whether your final tax works out to zero, not whether your gross income is below the basic exemption. Rebates and deductions can bring the tax to nil even when income is above the exemption limit.
Exemption Limits
Under the old tax regime for Assessment Year 2026–27, the basic exemption is ₹3 lakh for senior citizens (ages 60 to 79) and ₹5 lakh for super senior citizens (age 80 and above). Under the default new regime introduced by Section 115BAC, the exemption is ₹4 lakh for all individuals regardless of age.1Income Tax Department. Senior Citizens and Super Senior Citizens for AY 2026-2027 The old regime allows deductions such as those under Sections 80C and 80TTB; the new regime removes most deductions but offers lower slab rates and a larger rebate. Do the math under whichever regime you have opted for.
Section 87A Rebate
The Section 87A rebate is what pushes many seniors into nil-tax territory even when income sits well above the exemption limit. Under the new regime, individuals with taxable income up to ₹12 lakh get a rebate of up to ₹60,000, which can wipe the tax bill to zero. Under the old regime, the rebate is up to ₹12,500 for taxable income up to ₹5 lakh.1Income Tax Department. Senior Citizens and Super Senior Citizens for AY 2026-2027
A worked example: a 65-year-old under the new regime with total income of ₹10 lakh has a computed tax of ₹30,000 (5% on the slice between ₹4 lakh and ₹8 lakh, plus 10% on the slice between ₹8 lakh and ₹10 lakh). The Section 87A rebate wipes that to zero because income stays under ₹12 lakh, so the declaration can be filed. If the same person earned ₹13 lakh, the rebate would not apply, some tax would be owed, and the declaration would not be permissible.
What Income the Declaration Covers
Form 15H is used primarily for bank interest. Its replacement, Form 121, covers a broader range. The types of income for which you can submit a declaration to prevent TDS are:
- Bank interest on fixed deposits, recurring deposits, and savings accounts
- Post office deposits, including the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme and time deposits
- Interest on government or corporate bonds and other securities
- Dividends from stocks and mutual funds
- Taxable insurance payouts
- EPF withdrawals that would otherwise attract TDS
- Rental income where the tenant is required to deduct TDS
Submit a separate declaration to every payer. Two banks and a mutual fund house means three declarations. Each institution decides independently whether to withhold, and none of them will check what you filed elsewhere.
How and When to Submit
The form has two parts. Part A is yours: PAN, full name, residential status, complete address with PIN code, email, mobile number, the tax year, details of the income you want exempted from TDS, your estimated total income for the year, and the number of similar declarations you have filed with other institutions. That last detail lets the Income Tax Department cross-check whether your aggregate income across all payers actually results in nil tax. Part B is completed by the payer.
Give the completed Part A to the bank or institution before TDS is deducted. Most banks accept the form through net banking, which cuts down on errors. If you file on paper, the institution should give an acknowledgment with a Unique Identification Number.
Timing matters. File at the start of the financial year in April so TDS is not taken from your first interest payment. A mid-year submission only stops withholding going forward; anything already deducted stays deducted and must be recovered as a refund when you file your return. A fresh declaration is required every tax year.
Penalties for a False Declaration
The declaration is made under verification. Filing when your tax liability is not actually nil carries consequences under Section 277 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. If the tax that would have been evaded exceeds ₹1 lakh, the penalty is rigorous imprisonment for six months to seven years plus a fine. For smaller amounts, imprisonment ranges from three months to three years plus a fine.2Indian Kanoon. Section 277 in The Income Tax Act, 1961
The most common way to stumble into trouble is underestimating income. If you file in April based on projections but later receive a pension arrear or a capital gain that pushes tax above zero, tell the payer and ask them to resume TDS. Leaving a declaration in place after you know it is no longer accurate is where the legal exposure begins.
Mistakes Seniors Commonly Make
Filing at only one bank when deposits sit at several is the most frequent error. Each institution acts independently, so you have to add up interest from every source yourself before concluding that your overall tax is nil.
An inoperative PAN is the next trap. The Income Tax Department has said that taxpayers with an inoperative PAN face higher TDS rates regardless of any declaration filed.3Income Tax Department. Income Tax Department – Latest News If your PAN is not linked to Aadhaar and has been flagged inoperative, fix that first; otherwise the bank will disregard the form.
Mixing up the two tax regimes when calculating eligibility is a third. The old regime gives seniors a ₹3 lakh exemption (₹5 lakh for super seniors) and allows Section 80C and 80TTB deductions. The new regime starts the nil slab at ₹4 lakh, offers the larger Section 87A rebate, and strips out most deductions. Running the numbers under the regime you have not actually opted for produces a declaration that will not hold up.
What Changes on April 1, 2026
From April 1, 2026, Form 121 replaces both Form 15G and Form 15H. The core requirement does not change: your total tax for the year must be nil, you must be a resident, and your PAN must be valid and operative. The fields are slightly reorganized, and HUFs can now also file. Any Form 15H already submitted for Financial Year 2025–26 remains valid through March 31, 2026; from the next tax year onward, senior citizens use Form 121.