If you or your family elders visit the bank every year to avoid TDS deduction, then this news is very important for you. Under the Income Tax Act 2025, the government has taken a big step towards simplifying the tax process. Forms 15H and 15G, which have been in use for decades, have been discontinued forever from April 1. Putting an end to this old hassle of paperwork, now a new and very simple ‘Form 121’ has been introduced in its place.
Form 15G and 15H bid farewell, what is the new Form 121?
Till now, in the banking and financial system, there was a rule to fill different forms according to age. Ordinary taxpayers below 60 years of age had to fill Form 15G to avoid deduction of TDS on their interest income. At the same time, Form 15H was mandatory for senior citizens aged 60 years or more. Many times, due to having similar forms, people used to get confused as to which document they have to submit. The government has eliminated this entire problem from its roots. From the new financial year, both these forms have ceased to exist and only one single document ‘Form 121’ has been prepared by combining both of them. Now all eligible taxpayers will have to submit only this one form.
The system will work automatically
The biggest advantage of this new change is that now no person will need to remember different forms according to his age. Senior citizens were often worried that wrong forms might be deposited in the bank. Form 121 makes this process completely technically easy. When you submit this new form to your bank or financial institution, their backend system will automatically apply the correct tax rules based on your age. That is, the form will be the same, but the exemption given to the taxpayers will be automatically decided according to their age group.
Who will get its benefit?
The basic rules of the tax system remain in place. To avail the benefit of Form 121, the total tax liability of the taxpayer should be zero. Along with this, the total income of the person should be less than the basic exemption limit set by the government. If you fulfill these conditions, you can submit this new form to your bank or any other concerned financial institution. This document is a declaration that your income does not come under the ambit of tax, hence TDS should not be deducted on your earnings.
Which earnings will the rule apply to?
Most importantly, there has been a change in the name and format of the form, but the income sources which were exempted from TDS remain the same as before. If you earn interest from bank fixed deposit (FD) or savings account, you can use Form 121. Apart from this, this form will also be fully valid on pension income, returns from mutual funds, dividends given by companies, life insurance payments and rental income.