Form 15G and 15H – Everything you Need to Know About

Last Updated : May 7, 2020, 11:26 a.m.

Income Tax Department of India collects taxes from individuals with a tool of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS). There is a fixed limit upto which there will be no TDS deduction. The TDS can be deducted for various purposes such as interest on bank deposits, post office deposits, etc. There will be no TDS if the interest income from the bank and post office deposits remain within INR 40,000 in a financial year. However, for senior citizens, the TDS threshold is INR 50,000. If the income exceeds the threshold, there will be TDS deductions. But if the taxable income (Taxable income means the income post eligible tax deductions under different sections of the Income Tax Act) including the interest from these deposits remains within INR 2.5 lakh (regular) and INR 3 lakh (senior citizens) in a financial year, you can avoid TDS deductions on such interest income by submitting the 15G/H Form. It’s actually a declaration that there shall be no TDS as the total income falls below the tax exemption limit.

Before we go any further, let’s be told whosoever deducts TDS from your income is called deductor and you are called deductee.

In this article, we will tell you about many important aspects of Form 15G and 15H so that you could know everything about it. Keep reading to know more!

What is the Form 15G and 15H?

As we told you that Form 15G and 15H are used to prevent yourself from the tax deduction on every financial year. To make sure that there is no tax deduction from your income, you need to submit these forms at the start of every financial year. You can submit these forms online as well as offline. You must have a PAN to fill any of these forms. Without PAN, you cannot submit Form 15G and Form 15H to your respective deductor.

Let’s understand this through an example. Suppose Ved Sahni who is 34 years old has a total taxable income of INR 2,40,000. Since this income is below the taxable income limit of INR 2,50,000, he has to submit Form 15G (Since Ved is below 60 years) to prevent himself from any tax deductions. On the other hand, Pushpa Sehgal who is 68 years old has a total taxable income of 2,90,000 which is also below the taxable limit of INR 3,00,000 for senior citizens. So, she has to submit Form 15H so that there will be no TDS deduction from her income.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the government of India has extended the validity of Form 15G and 15H to June 2020 which was supposed to expire on 31 March 2020. Everyone can submit Form 15G and Form 15H in the first week of July 2020 for the current financial year 2020-21.

What is the Difference Between Form 15G and 15H?

There have been a lot of misconceptions about the difference between the Form 15G and 15H. The only difference between these two is that if you are a senior citizen having an age of 60 or above, you will need to submit Form 15H. While for anyone below 60 years of age, the Form 15G will be applicable.

Eligibility to Fill the Form 15G

There are a few conditions that you must need to fulfill if you want to fill the Form 15G and want to prevent yourself from any TDS Deduction. To know them, you can have a look at the below points.

• Your age must be less than 60 years.
• The total tax calculated on your total earning must be Nil
• You must be an Indian Citizen.
• You must be an Individual Taxpayer, Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), or a trust.
• A company or a firm cannot fill the Form 15G.
• Your Total Interest Earnings must fall below the limit of the minimum exempted limit of the financial year.

Eligibility to Fill the Form 15H

Similarly to Form 15G, there are a few conditions for Form 15H that you need to meet so that you can submit the form 15H. All these are mentioned below. Have a look!

• You must be a resident of India.
• You must be paying the taxes as an Individual.
• You must be above 60 years or will be turning into 60 on the year for which you are submitting the form.
• The total taxes on your taxable income is Nil.

How to Fill Form 15G or 15H?

After knowing about the eligibility criteria, it’s important to know how to fill the Form 15G and Form 15H without any mistakes so that your form would not be rejected. There are a few steps that you need to follow to fill the Forms. You can have a look at these steps mentioned below.

• Fill several details on the form such as name, PAN number, Status, Previous Year, Residential Address, City, State, PIN Code, Mobile Number, and other things.
• After filling the form, you will need to attach a copy of your PAN with the form and hand it over to your respective deductor.

How to Get Form 15G and 15H?

If you want to download the Form 15G or 15H in pdf format, you can do it easily. You just need to go to the official website of the Income Tax Department of India. On reaching there, you will see a section named ‘Frequently Used Forms’. Under that section, you can download Form 15G or Form 15H according to your requirement.