Form 15G is a self-declaration that you fill when you’re a fixed deposit (FD) holder and you don’t want your TDS to deduct from your income in one fiscal year.
It’s for employees whose age is below 60 years so that they can prevent the TDS deduction.
You can find the form 15G under section 197A of the Income Tax Act of 1961. Although, the form is only valid for people whose income is below the tax limit.
Let’s explore:
You can download the form 15G from the websites of any of the major banks like SBI, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, etc.
Another way to download this form is from the official EPFO portal and the website of the Income Tax Department.
Now that you know what is the Form 15G, why do you (or your employees) need it, and where you can download it from, let’s understand how it is related to form 26as.
Form 26as is like a summary sheet of taxes. This is where you fill out all your tax related information, the details which are also associated with the person’s PAN.
It shows the details like how much your tax has been deducted, what were the source of that collected that tax, how much advance tax you have paid, and the details of your refund: whether that has been issued already or not.
As an HR, your job is to thoroughly check the employee’s form 26as when they have handled their form 15G. This is to ensure that they have given the right information or not.
Provident Fund is important for employees for their financial portfolio. So, that makes it crucial for them to understand form 15G as well. As it can help them make more profit out of the amount, they finally withdraw from their PF account at the end.
So, it’s important for employees to declare their income is less than that taxable limit so that their TDS doesn’t deduct and filling and submitting form 15G can help them with it. Additionally, to prove their given information is right, they will also have to fill the form 26as.
As an HR, it’s your responsibility to explain your employees why it is important for them to fill out these forms so they can get the maximum amount of their PF and make more profit out of it.
Filling form 15G is not that big of a complicated process if you take a systematic approach while filling it. Let’s go over the step-by-step process of how to fill this form so you can help your employees do it the right way.
Step 1: Your first step would be to fill out your personal details, for instance, your name, PAN (Permanent Account Number), and Address.
Step 2: The second step would be to provide information about your income as on which type of income are you making a declaration for. It can include details like interest income, which by the way, also include the interest you get on your provident funds.
Step 3: Finally, you confirm that your income is below the threshold at which the tax is deducted, which makes you eligible for submitting the Form 15G.
Step 4: This is the verification part, where you have to verify your declaration. To do this, you’ll sign the form with your signature with date to authenticate the document.
The submitting time of your Form 15G is also important. Your employees should submit it at the beginning of their fiscal year when all the interest-bearing deposits like fixed deposits have initiated.
This is done to ensure that your TDS doesn’t deduct at that source in the whole year.
As an HR, you should communicate this well to all your employees for their well-being, so that they submit their Form 15G at the right time. You can use an HR software system to do it easily.
It’s no rocket science about how to submit your Form 15G. It has all been streamlined, so you can submit it easily. You can guide your employees through the process following these steps.
- Go to the official e-filling website of the Income Tax Department
- Create an account
- Fill out the form
- Verify it with electronic verification methods like Adhar-based OTP.
Encourage employees to embrace the convenience of online submissions, minimizing paperwork and ensuring a faster turnaround.