Fill Form 15H Online — Stop TDS on Your FD Interest, Free

Form 15H is a self-declaration under section 197A(1C) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 that a resident senior citizen (aged 60 or above) submits to a bank, post office or other payer so that no TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) is deducted from interest income — typically fixed deposit and recurring deposit interest taxed under section 194A. By signing it, the senior citizen declares that the tax on his or her estimated total income for the financial year will be nil, so there is nothing for the bank to deduct. It is filed afresh every financial year, usually in April, with every bank or branch that pays the interest.

Both stop TDS on interest under section 197A, but the audience and the eligibility test differ. Form 15G is for resident individuals below 60 (and HUFs); it requires BOTH that final tax be nil AND that total interest income stay below the basic exemption limit. Form 15H is only for resident senior citizens aged 60 or above, and it has just one test: the tax on estimated total income for the year must be nil. A senior citizen whose gross income exceeds the basic exemption limit can still file Form 15H, as long as deductions (such as the Rs 50,000 under section 80TTB) and the section 87A rebate bring the final tax liability to zero. Form 15G offers no such flexibility.

Anyone who is a resident individual and is 60 years of age or older at any time during the financial year for which the declaration is made. You do not need to be 60 on the day you sign the form — turning 60 at any point before 31 March of that financial year qualifies you for Form 15H for the whole year. Non-residents cannot use Form 15H (or 15G) regardless of age; they must apply for a lower-deduction certificate under section 197 instead. Companies, firms and trusts can never use these forms — they are for individuals only.

Super senior citizens — residents aged 80 or above — file the same Form 15H; there is no separate form. What changes is the arithmetic behind the nil-tax test: under the old tax regime their basic exemption limit is Rs 5,00,000 (versus Rs 3,00,000 for those aged 60 to 79), so a larger income can still produce zero tax. Under the new regime the exemption structure is the same for all ages, but the section 87A rebate makes income up to roughly Rs 12,00,000 effectively tax-free from FY 2025-26. Either way, if the resulting tax is nil, an 80-year-old signs the same Form 15H as a 62-year-old.

Yes — pension plus FD interest is the classic Form 15H situation. The test is not whether you have other income, but whether the tax on your total estimated income (pension + interest + anything else) works out to nil after deductions and rebates. Pension qualifies for the standard deduction (Rs 75,000 under the new regime, Rs 50,000 under the old), deposit interest gets up to Rs 50,000 under section 80TTB (old regime), and the section 87A rebate can wipe out the remaining tax. If, after all of that, your tax is zero, you can file Form 15H. Remember to declare the pension in the estimated total income field — understating it makes the declaration false.

One per bank — and often one per branch or deposit, depending on the bank's process. Each payer deducts TDS independently, so each needs its own signed declaration. Form 15H itself anticipates this: field 15 asks for the total number of Form 15H declarations filed during the year and the aggregate income they cover, so every copy must disclose the others. Fill the form once in PDF Edit, save it, then duplicate and adjust the deposit details for each bank. Filing with one bank does nothing to stop TDS at the other banks.

At the start of every financial year — ideally in the first week of April — because a declaration only stops TDS deducted after the bank receives it. TDS on FD interest is deducted when interest is credited (often quarterly), not just at maturity, so a form submitted in September cannot undo deductions made in June. The declaration is valid for one financial year only and lapses on 31 March; banks send reminders, but the responsibility to re-file is yours. If you open a new FD mid-year, submit a fresh Form 15H for it right away.

No — Form 15H only prevents future deductions; it cannot reverse TDS already remitted to the government. Banks have no mechanism to refund deducted tax. The remedy is to file your Income Tax Return (ITR-1 Sahaj for most pensioners) and claim the TDS as a refund: the deducted amount appears in your Form 26AS and AIS, is credited against your (nil) liability, and the excess is refunded to your bank account, typically within a few weeks of e-verification. Then submit Form 15H immediately so the next quarter's interest is paid gross.

Yes, a valid PAN is mandatory. Section 206AA provides that a declaration under section 197A becomes invalid if it does not carry the declarant's PAN — and the payer must then deduct TDS at 20%, double the usual 10% rate under section 194A. The PAN quoted must also be active and linked with Aadhaar; an inoperative PAN is treated the same as no PAN. If a senior citizen does not yet have one, apply with Form 49A first — PDF Edit hosts the PAN application form as well.

A Form 15H declaration is made under penalty of prosecution. If it is false — for example, the declarant knew the estimated income figure was understated or the tax would not be nil — section 277 of the Income-tax Act applies: imprisonment from three months up to two years plus fine, rising to a range of six months to seven years where the tax sought to be evaded exceeds Rs 25,00,000. Banks report every declaration to the Income Tax Department with a Unique Identification Number (UIN) in their quarterly TDS statements, so mismatches surface automatically. When in doubt, let the bank deduct and claim a refund through your return instead.

The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the 1961 Act with effect from 1 April 2026. Under the new law and its rules, the no-deduction self-declaration that senior citizens previously made on Form 15H is made on Form 121. The mechanics are the same — resident senior citizen, nil estimated tax, one declaration per payer per year — only the form number and the section references change. During the transition, banks may still hand out or accept the old 15H layout, but new filings from FY 2026-27 onward should use Form 121. PDF Edit hosts both, so you can fill whichever your bank asks for.

Most large banks (SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis, PNB and others) let account holders submit 15H electronically through net banking or their mobile app — usually under a menu like Tax Centre or Submit 15G/15H. Post offices and many co-operative banks still take paper. A filled, printed PDF is useful either way: it is the fastest route for branch submission, and it gives you a signed copy for your records even when you also file online. Whatever channel you use, the bank must allot a UIN and report the declaration quarterly to the Income Tax Department.

Yes. If you are 60 or older and withdraw Rs 50,000 or more from EPF before completing 5 years of continuous service, the EPFO deducts TDS at 10% under section 192A. Submitting Form 15H along with your claim — uploaded on the EPFO member portal or attached to a physical Form 19 — stops that deduction, provided the tax on your total estimated income for the year is nil. Members below 60 must use Form 15G instead, and from FY 2026-27 the same declaration moves to Form 121.

The blank Form 15H PDF is on the Income Tax Department's 'Most Used Forms' page and on most bank websites — SBI's copy ranks first on Google — but those versions are print-and-handwrite only. PDF Edit hosts the same April-2023 revision of Form 15H as a fillable PDF: type into every field, including PAN, estimated total income, the field 15 count of other declarations and the field 16 deposit table, then download or print it free with nothing uploaded from your browser.

Work top to bottom: your full name and Aadhaar-linked PAN (without a valid PAN the bank must deduct 20% under section 206AA), the financial year such as 2026-27, residential status 'Resident', address and contact details, whether you were assessed to tax in any of the last 6 assessment years, the estimated income from this payer, your estimated total income from all sources, the number of other Form 15H declarations already filed this year in field 15, and each deposit's account number and interest amount in the field 16 table — then sign. The box-by-box guide above covers all 11 sections.