Fill Form 121 — the New Nil-TDS Declaration — Free, No Sign-Up

Form 121 is the unified self-declaration for non-deduction of TDS (tax deducted at source) prescribed under rule 211 of the Income-tax Rules, 2025, read with section 393(6) of the Income-tax Act, 2025. From FY 2026-27 (starting 1 April 2026) it replaces both Form 15G and Form 15H. A resident whose estimated tax on total income for the tax year is nil files Form 121 with the payer — a bank, post office, EPFO, company, tenant or insurer — so that interest, provident-fund withdrawals, dividends, rent or insurance commission are paid to them without any tax being deducted at source. It is a 4-page PDF: Part A is completed and signed by the declarant, Part B by the payer who receives it.

No — for income paid or credited on or after 1 April 2026, Forms 15G and 15H are no longer the prescribed declarations. They were issued under section 197A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, which was repealed when the Income-tax Act, 2025 took effect. The single successor for all declarants, regardless of age, is Form 121 under section 393(6) and rule 211. Declarations covering FY 2025-26 remain valid for that year. If a branch hands you a 15G form in FY 2026-27, it is using outdated stationery — ask for Form 121 or bring your own printed copy.

Form 121 is for resident declarants whose estimated tax on total income for the tax year works out to nil — typically pensioners, homemakers, students and low-income savers receiving bank or post-office interest, people making an early EPF withdrawal, small landlords receiving rent, and insurance agents earning commission. Under the new default tax regime the basic exemption is ₹4,00,000 and the rebate keeps tax at nil for total income up to ₹12,00,000 for most individuals, so far more savers qualify than under the old 15G rules. Non-residents cannot file Form 121.

Three headline changes. First, one form for all ages: the old split — 15G for declarants under 60 and 15H for senior citizens 60 and over — is gone; everyone files Form 121. Second, the legal anchor moved from section 197A of the 1961 Act to section 393(6) of the 2025 Act and rule 211 of the 2025 Rules. Third, terminology: the previous year / assessment year pair is replaced by a single tax year throughout. The substance is familiar — declarant details, PAN, estimated income, estimated total income, and details of other Form 121 declarations filed during the year — with Part B still completed by the payer.

Go by the period the income belongs to, not by what the branch stationery says. For interest paid or credited from 1 April 2026 onwards, the legally prescribed declaration is Form 121 — a 15G filed for that period cites a repealed section and does not satisfy rule 211. July 2026 is the first filing season under the new regime, so many branches are still working through old pre-printed pads; point staff to the Form 121 notification or hand over a filled Form 121 printed from the official PDF. If the bank insists on its own format, complete their form too, but keep a signed Form 121 copy for your records.

For FY 2025-26 — income earned between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026 — the Income-tax Act, 1961 still governed, so the correct declarations were Form 15G (under 60) and Form 15H (senior citizens). For FY 2026-27 onwards, the Income-tax Act, 2025 applies and the only prescribed nil-TDS declaration is Form 121, whatever your age. 15G/15H declarations are year-specific and do not roll forward, so even long-time 15G filers must submit a fresh Form 121 to each deductor at the start of FY 2026-27.

Yes. TDS applies to an EPF withdrawal when the member has less than 5 years of continuous service and the taxable withdrawal exceeds ₹50,000, a rule carried over from section 192A of the 1961 Act into the 2025 Act. Members whose estimated total tax is nil could previously avoid deduction by attaching Form 15G or 15H; for claims processed on or after 1 April 2026 the attachment is Form 121 instead. Upload it with your online claim (Form 19 or Form 31) on the EPFO member portal, or hand a signed copy to your field office. Without a declaration and valid PAN, EPFO deducts TDS at the higher rate.

Yes — a valid PAN is mandatory. A declaration quoting no PAN, an invalid PAN, or a PAN that has become inoperative (for example, not linked to Aadhaar) is treated as if no declaration was furnished, and the payer must deduct TDS at the higher rate — 20% in most interest cases — instead of nil. Double-check the 10-character PAN field by field: a single transposed character invalidates the declaration. If you have not yet been allotted a PAN, apply first — under the 2025 Act numbering the PAN application form is Form 93, successor to the old Form 49A.

A false declaration is prosecutable. Under the 1961 Act a false 15G/15H statement was punishable under section 277, and the 2025 Act carries the same offence forward for Form 121: if the tax that would have been evaded exceeds ₹25,00,000, rigorous imprisonment runs from 6 months up to 7 years plus fine; otherwise, from 3 months up to 2 years plus fine. The tax itself also remains payable with interest. Only sign Form 121 if your estimate of nil tax is honest.

Form 121 covers broadly the same payment types 15G/15H covered: interest on bank, co-operative and post-office deposits; interest on securities; dividends; premature EPF withdrawals over ₹50,000 with under 5 years of service; rent; insurance commission; and National Savings Scheme payments. TDS on bank interest triggers only when annual interest at one bank exceeds ₹50,000 (₹1,00,000 for senior citizens), so a declaration matters once you cross that threshold but your total tax is still nil. It does not cover salary TDS or capital-gains withholding.

Form 121 is one entry in a full renumbering effective 1 April 2026. The mappings most people meet: Form 15G and Form 15H both map to Form 121 (nil-TDS self-declaration); Form 49A, the PAN application for Indian citizens, becomes Form 93; and Form 16, the salary TDS certificate, becomes Form 130. The underlying processes are unchanged — same declarations, applications and certificates, just new numbers citing the 2025 Act. Documents for earlier years keep their old numbers even when issued during FY 2026-27.

No — and you are not supposed to. Form 121 is not filed with the Income Tax Department by you at all: you give it to the payer — your bank branch, post office, EPFO, tenant or insurer — and the payer reports it onward. PDF Edit lets you open the official 4-page Form 121 PDF in your browser, type into every Part A field, add your signature, and save or print entirely on your device. Nothing is uploaded, because the editor has no server-side processing.

Open the official 4-page Form 121 PDF in PDF Edit and complete Part A only: your name and 10-character PAN exactly as on the PAN card, status (Individual/HUF), tax year 2026-27, residential status (must be Resident), address with PIN, the estimated income from this payer (e.g. FD interest), your estimated total income for the year (must produce nil tax — up to Rs 12,00,000 under the new-regime rebate for most individuals), details of any other Form 121 declarations already filed this year, then sign and date. Part B is the payer's — leave it blank. Download the filled PDF and submit it to your bank, post office or EPFO; nothing is uploaded to our servers.

A correct Form 121 sample shows Part A fully completed: name and PAN, status Individual, tax year 2026-27, residential status Resident, full address, the yes/no assessed-to-tax box with the latest assessment year, the estimated income for this declaration (say Rs 64,000 of FD interest with the deposit account number), an estimated total income below the nil-tax threshold, the count and aggregate amount of other Form 121 declarations filed this year, and a signature with place and date. Part B — payer name, TAN, UIN, amount and date received — stays empty in the declarant's copy. Our field-by-field box guide above walks through every entry so you can produce the same filled sample yourself.

The Income Tax Department prescribes Form 121 only as a PDF under rule 211 of the Income-tax Rules, 2025 — there is no official Word or Excel version, and unofficial .docx/.xlsx re-creations risk missing fields or altered layout that a bank branch can reject. You do not need one: PDF Edit lets you type directly into the official 4-page PDF in your browser, so you get the exact prescribed format with your details filled in, ready to print or submit electronically, free and without sign-up.