Form 15H

Form 15H is a self-declaration which was submitted by Senior citizens who are either 60 years or above that for reducing TDS burden on interest earned from fixed deposits and recurring deposits investments. According to the existing rules, TDS deducted on interest earned from bank Fixed deposits and Recurring deposits held by Senior Citizens only if the annual interest income from these deposits is more than Rs 50,000.

Eligibility for using Form 15H

• He or she should be an individual tax assessee and not an organization or an entity.
• He or she should be an Indian Citizen or residing in India.
• He or she should be a minimum of 60 years of age.
• The tax liability for the assessee for the applicable financial year should be nil.

What to do when forgot to submit Form 15H?

If in any case, you forget to submit the required form on time, it may lead to TDS deduction by bank in interest income from deposits above 50,000 for the applicable financial year.

The individual needs to filing of Income Tax Return to claim a refund of excess TDS deducted by the bank. TDS is usually deducted on every quarter-end of the particular financial year.

Hence, one should make sure to submit the required form as early as possible to avoid the deduction of TDS for the applicable financial year.

Uses of Form 15H

TDS on the interest income from Fixed Deposits:  Filing of 15G will help the senior citizen to save taxes on the interest earned by him from Fixed deposits and recurring deposits held with banks.

TDS on EPF Withdrawal: It is applicable in cases where EPF is withdrawn before completion of 5 years of regular or continuous services in an organization.

If an individual is having an accumulative fund of Rs 50,000 and above and wishes to withdraw the same before completion of continued service period of 5 years. In that case, he or she is free to submit Form 15H to avoid deduction of TDS on his or her EPF balance. The only thing one needs to keep in mind is that the tax assessee should be eligible for submitting form 15H. It states that taxable income inclusive of EPF balance should not fall in the specified taxable bracket and should be free of tax liabilities.

TDS on income generated from corporate bonds: TDS is applicable on any income above Rs 5000 annually generated from corporate bonds.  However, the individual may submit Form 15H to the issuer and place a request for no TDS deductions, subject to meeting the required criteria to submit the form in question.

TDS on income generated from deposits made in Post offices

Certain digitized Post offices can also choose to deduct TDS on an individual’s income generated via deposits made by them at the respective Post office. In this case, also, the individual is free to submission of Form 15H to the Post Office and request for no TDS Deduction, subject to meeting the applicable criteria.

TDS on Rent: Rental payments which are above Rs. 1.8 lakh in a year also attract TDS. However, an individual may do Form 15H submission to his tenant and request him to avoid TDS deduction. The only thing to be kept in mind is that the tax to be paid on his total income in the previous year should be zero.

Process to use Form 15H to prevent TDS deduction 

An individual need to furnish Form 15H to his deductor on time either before the due date of the interest payment or before the end of the applicable financial year.

This form is an undertaking by the assessee, stating that the income earned in the previous year does not fall in the taxable income bracket and is thus not liable to be taxed.

Factors affecting Form 15H Submission

• It can only be submitted by an individual who has reached the age of 60 years and above that is senior citizens. Other individuals or HUFs are required to submit 15G to prevent TDS deduction.
• Form 15H can only be submitted by Indian Citizens residing in India. It does not apply to NRIs or Foreigners.
• The deposit of Form 15H is to be made on any bank branch, which is liable to pay interest to individuals on his deposits.
• Form 15H is just a declaration or an undertaking by an individual that the interest earned on his income should be kept free from any kind of TDS deduction, as his tax liabilities on total income earned is zero.
• An individual must ensure that income generated on fixed deposits as well as recurring deposits is always taxable. Hence, this form should only be submitted when the individual is always making sure that the total income earned is less than the taxation bracket.
• In case an individual has taxable income and still, he has submitted Form 15H to the bank, he must immediately inform his bank regarding the same. Upon receiving intimation on time, the bank will make the required changes and deduct the applicable TDS on the interest income generated.
• There is no need for an individual to submit directly these forms to the Income Tax Department It is the responsibility of the deductor to prepare a proper layout and submit the same to the IT department along with all the relevant details.
  

TDS deductor and Form 15H

The Income Tax Act 1961 requires TDS deductors to allocate a UIN to all individuals submitting form 15G and 15H to them.  The tax deductor is supposed to file a statement of the forms submitted to them by all the taxpayers on every quarter-end. This statement consists of the details of all forms submitted to them and a list of all the sources of income which have been exempted from tax. These forms must be retained by the tax deductor for a minimum period of 7 years subsequent to submission.

Form 15H Sample

Process to download Form 15H

Form 15H is available in fill-able format on the website of most banks operating in India. You can easily download the form. After downloading, print it, fill out and submit it with the appropriate bank or authority intending to reduce the TDS burden.

Always take care that the separate Form 15H needs to be submitted with each bank or Post Office where you have kept Fixed deposits or Recurring Deposits.

Process to fill Form 15H

Form 15H is divided into two parts

Part A

This part is to be filled out by Senior citizen individual applicants who wish to claim TDS on different types of income earned by then during the fiscal.

There are various points which are to be duly filled by the applicant before submitting the form. Details about the same are mentioned below:

• Name of the PAN card
• Date of Birth
• Financial year related to mentioned income
• Residential status
• Complete residential address and contact information
• The applicant needs to select ‘yes’ if he or she has been assessed in any of the years out of the six-assessment year before the mentioned assessment year.
• Estimated total income for which the applicant wishes to submit a declaration.
• The estimated income for the current year along with the estimated income in the previous point.
• The exact number of Forms filled by the applicant along with the total income of which the declaration is being filed by the applicant.
• Details about the applicant’s number of shares, NSS details and LIC policy number along with the employee code.
• The applicant then needs to diligently need to do verification and rectification of errors, if any, before signing the form.

Part 2

The second part of the form needs to be filled and submitted by the deductor who is required to do a deposit of TDS deducted with the bank authorities.

Recent updates on Form 15H

According to the changes made from June 1, 2016, certain rental income can also be declared and included in Form15H declarations. There is various type of income which belongs to this category:

• Amount Received from EPF withdrawals
• Dividend income
• Interest other than the interest earned on securities
• Income received from Life Insurance policies
• Income received from National Savings Scheme, and
• Rental Income

Form 15H for EPF Withdrawal

• Form 15H for using PF withdrawal needs to be filled when you withdraw offline. The objective of form 15H is to request EPFO not to deduct TDS. It is applicable only if one is making a withdrawal of EPF before completing 5 years. Filling Form 15H is a way to request EPFO not to make any TDS deduction or the amount withdrawn is greater than Rs 50,000.
• TDS deduction is done at the rate of 10% provided PAN is submitted. Otherwise, TDS is deducted at the rate of 34.608% if PAN is not submitted.
• If you withdraw offline you can submit form 15G/15H to prevent TDS from being applied.