Post Office Interest TDS: Form 121, the ₹50,000 Threshold, and the PPF Exemption

The short answer

TDS on post office deposit interest applies above ₹50,000 a year, or ₹1,00,000 if you are 60 or over at any point during the year — counted per payer, and applied to the whole amount once you cross it, not just the excess. But PPF, SSY and NSC interest is exempt under section 11(1), Schedule II, Sl. No. 11 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, so no TDS can arise on it and no form is ever needed. KVP interest is taxable but never withheld. SCSS interest is taxable, and whether TDS is deducted on it is genuinely unresolved. Forms 15G and 15H are now a single Form No. 121, under sections 393(6) and 393(7).

Your post office account	Is the interest tax-free?	Do you need a form?
PPF, SSY, NSC	Exempt — s.11(1), Sch. II Sl. 11	No, and never
KVP	Taxable, but never withheld — s.393(4) carve-out	No — but report the interest
SCSS	Taxable at slab	Only if you are above the threshold and your tax is nil
MIS, time deposits, recurring deposits	Taxable at slab	Only if you are above the threshold and your tax is nil

The one trap worth naming up front: there are two different ₹50,000s in this topic, and they are not the same provision. Section 393 is the TDS threshold. Section 153 is the deduction ceiling. Same number, different question — and section 153 is old-regime only.

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Your post office paid you some interest this quarter. Did they take 10% as tax at source?

For most people the honest answer is: no, and it will not be a surprise next year either. The rule changed on 1 April 2025 and almost nobody noticed.

But one thing about small savings gets repeated endlessly and is simply wrong. We will get to it. First, the numbers.

What is the TDS threshold on post office deposit interest today?

Under the old Income-tax Act, 1961, TDS on interest other than interest on securities sits in section 194A. Sub-section (3)(i)(c) covers post office deposits under schemes framed and notified by the Central Government.

The Finance Act 2025 (Act No. 7 of 2025) rewrote the numbers in the body of that clause itself, effective 1 April 2025. No circular is doing the work. The statute says:

• ₹50,000 a year of interest from a post office deposit — for everyone else. This replaced the old ₹40,000 figure.
• ₹1,00,000 a year — if you are a senior citizen. That sits in the third proviso to sub-section (3)(i), read with Explanation 2 defining a senior citizen as 60 years or more at any time during the previous year.

Now the part that changes your paperwork. From 1 April 2026, section 194A no longer governs. Section 393 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 takes over. CBDT’s own guidance is that where the earlier of credit of income or payment lies on or after 1 April 2026, the 2025 Act applies.

The good news: the numbers moved with the section. In section 393(1), Table, Sl. No. 5(ii)(c) — income by way of interest other than interest on securities, payer being a post office for a deposit under a scheme notified by the Central Government — the threshold is ₹1,00,000 for a senior citizen and ₹50,000 otherwise. Rate: rates in force, which means 10%.

So the number you need is simple:

Your interest from a post office deposit, in one tax year	TDS applies?
Up to ₹50,000, and you are under 60	No
Up to ₹1,00,000, and you are 60+ for any part of the year	No
Above that	Yes, at 10%, on the whole amount, not just the excess

Three things people get wrong about that last row.

It is a line, not a slab. Interest of ₹1,05,000 does not get taxed on ₹5,000. It gets 10% on the entire ₹1,05,000. Crossing the threshold by a small margin is expensive. That is exactly why staying clear of it is worth some effort.

It is counted per payer. Two post offices means two separate thresholds. You cannot add your PPF interest to your Senior Citizens Savings Scheme interest and hope to stay under one limit — and more importantly, most of those interests are not taxable at all, which is the next section.

The age test is applied fresh every year. Turn 60 in December and you are a senior citizen for that whole tax year. The ₹1,00,000 threshold opens up with no application to make.

Is PPF interest exempt from TDS? And which small savings are taxable?

Two things get mixed up on this page more than anything else.

Deduction at deposit is not the same as exemption on the interest. They are separate tests. A post office can withhold tax on interest that turns out to be tax-free, and the burden of proving otherwise sits with you, not with the counter clerk. That is exactly why the declaration forms exist — they are a proof of exemption from withholding, not an exemption from tax.

So let us sort the schemes, because they behave completely differently.

No TDS can arise — and the reason differs by scheme

PPF, SSY and NSC interest is exempt from tax entirely. The provision is section 11(1), Schedule II, Sl. No. 11 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, which covers income by way of interest, premium on redemption or other payment on securities, bonds, annuity certificates, savings certificates, other certificates issued by the Central Government and deposits — with the condition that such certificates and deposits are notified by the Central Government, subject to the conditions and limits specified in the notification. Nothing to claim, no TDS question arises. This exemption is not limited to the old tax regime.

KVP interest is not exempt. It is taxable at your slab as income from other sources. No TDS arises on it either, but for a completely different reason — see below. Do not carry KVP in the exempt list.

Why KVP has no TDS anyway

A carve-out from the section, not an exemption from tax. It reads like a mistake until you get to the words.

Section 393(4), Table Sl. No. 7(c)(ii) — the provision that was section 194A(3)(vi) — takes interest credited or paid in respect of deposits under any scheme framed by the Central Government and notified by it in this behalf outside section 393 altogether. No threshold, no rate, no form.

KVP is a notified scheme, so it sits there. Interest on KVP is still your income to declare. It simply is not withheld. This is also the provision that creates the unresolved SCSS question further down, so hold on to it.

Taxable interest, where TDS can arise

Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (SCSS). Interest here is taxable. Not exempt. The scheme gives you no EEE status. That is the design, not a loophole.

The correction worth making is that the blanket statement that PPF, SSY, NSC and SCSS interest are all exempt is false on SCSS. SCSS belongs with your taxable deposits, not with your tax-free ones.

The SCSS position is genuinely unresolved, and it is the one place on this page where the sources disagree. We are not going to resolve it for you:

CBDT’s threshold-limits table still carries a row naming the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme Rules, 2004 at ₹1,00,000 with no age qualifier — but that row sits in a table numbered under section 194A, it predates the 2025 amendment that split the threshold by age, and it does not survive the statute. Section 393(4), Table Sl. No. 7(c)(ii) takes interest on deposits under any notified Central Government scheme outside section 393 altogether. On the face of the statute that would cover SCSS, which would mean no TDS at any balance. In practice post offices deduct from large SCSS balances above the age-adjusted threshold.

Read that as an honest conflict, not a resolved answer. The ₹1,00,000 row is a legacy 1961-numbered artefact and proves nothing either way — not that SCSS is taxable-with-TDS, and not that it is outside section 393. What is not in doubt is that SCSS interest is taxable at slab — it appears nowhere in the Schedule II exemption entries.

One more trap in the 55-to-60 cohort. The Senior Citizens Savings Scheme does not open only at 60 — someone aged 55 but under 60 may open it on retirement on superannuation, and retired Defence Services personnel may open at 50. That cohort is not a senior citizen for tax purposes, so their threshold is ₹50,000, not ₹1,00,000.

MIS, Post Office Time Deposits and Recurring Deposits are taxable too, and unlike SCSS they sit squarely within section 393.

A quick self-test. Ask of any post office account: is the interest tax-free, or taxable? If tax-free, no form. If taxable, thresholds and forms apply. If it is KVP, taxable but never withheld — which is a third answer, and the reason it exists is the 393(4) carve-out above.

Who can file Form 121, and who cannot

First, a naming warning, because it is easy to be a year behind. Forms 15G and 15H have been merged into a single Form No. 121 under the Income-tax Act, 2025. The old numbering worked through 31 March 2026. If your post office asks for a “15H”, it may hand you Form 121 instead — that is correct, not an error.

The mapping, from CBDT’s own FAQ:

Old	New
Form 15G, section 197A(1) and 197A(1A), Rule 29C	Form 121, section 393(6), Rule 211
Form 15H, section 197A(1C)	Form 121, section 393(7), Rule 211

Now the eligibility tests. They are not the same test, and the differences are not cosmetic.

Section 393(6) — the below-60 route, which also serves HUFs and other persons

Available to individuals under 60, and also to other persons such as an HUF, a trust, a company or a firm not otherwise covered. You need two things true:

1. Tax on your estimated total income for the year is nil. Not low — nil.
2. The aggregate of your specified incomes, the ones that normally suffer TDS, does not exceed the maximum amount not chargeable to tax.

That second test is what catches people, and the number depends on which regime you are in:

Regime	Ceiling on specified incomes for the 393(6) route
Default / new regime	₹4,00,000
Old regime, below 60	₹2,50,000
Old regime, 60 to under 80	₹3,00,000
Old regime, 80 and above	₹5,00,000

Worth knowing, because secondary sources get this backwards: several widely-cited pages put the new-regime figure at ₹3,00,000. CBDT’s own table says ₹4,00,000. So if your FD interest alone is ₹4.2 lakh, the section 393(6) route is closed to you no matter how little other income you have.

Section 393(7) — the 60-and-over route, and the only condition on it

Available to a resident individual aged 60 or more at any time during the tax year, on one condition only: tax on estimated total income is nil. There is no cap on the specified incomes at all. That is the entire reason 15H exists — it strips out the ceiling that closes 15G on identical facts.

Can a HUF use 15H? No — permanently

A Hindu Undivided Family is not an individual, and section 393(7) is available only to “an individual being a resident.” Section 393(6) is the HUF route, and it comes with the specified-income ceiling attached. A family cannot be a senior citizen. An HUF is locked to the stricter test permanently, and no amount of the karta’s age changes that.

Non-residents: neither form. Both sections are drafted for residents. Interest paid to a non-resident runs through the separate machinery for withholding on payments to non-residents, not these forms.

Does PAN matter on both routes? Yes — and it fails differently

Section 397(2)(f)(i) makes a declaration invalid if a valid PAN is not furnished in a declaration under section 393(6) — that is the below-60 and HUF route. It does not name 393(7), so a 60-plus holder’s Form 121 is not invalidated on that ground. Either way, section 397(2)(b)(i) takes the deduction at the higher of the stated rate or rates in force, or 20%.

So if you are under 60 or filing for an HUF, a missing PAN does not merely cost you the rate — it voids the declaration, and you get taxed at 20% anyway. If you are 60 or over, your declaration survives the PAN problem, but the 20% rate still bites. A PAN that is missing or wrong costs you money on both routes. It just does different damage.

The mechanics that decide whether Form 121 works

One form, each payer, each year. You submit separately to every post office paying you the interest. The threshold is per payer, so the declaration is per payer. And it is annual — a declaration for one tax year does not carry into the next.

Timing is the whole game. Interest is credited quarterly on most of these schemes. A form arriving after the credit does not un-deduct the tax; it just means you claim it back. Submit before the first credit of the year, ideally in April.

The payer assigns a UIN. Under Notification No. 01/CPC(TDS)/2026 dated 28 March 2026, each declaration gets a 26-character Unique Identification Number — a running serial beginning with “D”, six digits for the tax year, and the payer’s TAN. So for the first declaration received by a payer with TAN MUMN12345A for tax year 2026-27, the UIN is `D000000001202627MUMN12345A`. Keep it. That is how a declaration gets matched to a credit when you reconcile.

Filing mechanics for you. Report the gross interest under “Income from Other Sources.” Claim the TDS against it in the TDS schedule. Cross-check both against your Form 26AS and your Annual Information Statement. Mismatches are a classic notice trigger.

What is the penalty for not filing Form 121?

Numbers here are cited under the Income-tax Act, 2025, with the 1961 numbers in brackets so you can search them.

• Section 465(2)(f) (1961: section 272A(2)) — ₹500 for every day during which the failure continues, for failing to deliver in due time a copy of the declaration required under section 393(7). Sub-section (3)(a) caps that penalty so it does not exceed the amount of tax deductible or collectible. Note the asymmetry with the PAN rule above: the per-day penalty clause names only the 393(7) declaration, while the PAN-invalidation clause names only 393(6). Neither covers both.
• Section 468 (1961: section 272B) — ₹10,000 for failing to comply with section 397, the PAN and TAN compliance provision.
• Section 398(3) (1961: section 234B) — simple interest at 1% per month on tax that should have been deducted but was not, running from the date the tax became deductible until the date it is actually deducted. Section 398(2) is the safety valve: you can escape the deemed default if you filed your return, took the income into account and paid the tax, with a certificate from an accountant.

The stale number to watch for: the old section 234G fee of ₹500 per month for failing to furnish a 15G or 15H no longer says that. It was substituted by the Finance Act, 2020 and now concerns statements and certificates under sections 35 and 80G at ₹200 per day. If you have read that ₹500-per-month figure recently, treat it as outdated.

Which is the real risk. A declaration does not create an exemption; it only asks the payer to stand down. These forms are a convenience for people whose tax is genuinely nil. Using one to dodge tax on income you do owe is not a loophole, it is a loan that comes due — with 1% interest a month on it.

A worked example: one deposit size, two completely different tax problems

Take two people with the same ₹15,00,000 of post office deposits and no other income. Interest rates below are the rates notified for October–December 2026, announced on 30 September 2026.

Meena, 34, PPF and SSY only. Her deposits earn whatever the notified rates give her — the point is not the amount. Both schemes are exempt under section 11(1), Schedule II, Sl. No. 11, so no TDS question exists for her at all and there is no form to file. The ₹50,000 threshold is irrelevant to her, because that threshold governs taxable interest and hers is not taxable. If someone at the post office asked her for a 15G, the honest answer is that there is nothing to claim.

Ramesh, 67, Senior Citizens Savings Scheme. Deposit of ₹8,00,000 at the SCSS rate notified for October–December 2026 — 8.2% — gives him interest of ₹65,600 a year. That is below the ₹1,00,000 senior-citizen threshold, so no TDS is due. But the interest is taxable, so it lands in his return under Other Sources.

Which is where section 153 comes in — and there are three separate things to be careful about, so take them one at a time.

First, the ceiling. Section 153(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 allows a deduction for interest on deposits with a banking company, a co-operative bank, or “a Post Office as defined in section 2(d) of the Post Office Act, 2023.” Section 153(2)(b) caps it at ₹50,000 for a senior citizen on deposits in any account, including time deposits. Post offices are named on the face of the section.

Second, whether he can use it at all. Section 153 sits in Chapter VIII, and section 202(2)(a)(xii) provides that where income is taxed under the new regime, total income is computed “without any exemption or deduction under — Chapter VIII other than the provisions of section 124(1) and 124(2), or 125(2) or 146.” Section 153 is not one of those four carve-outs. So section 153 is not available to Ramesh if he is on the default new regime. It is old-regime only, exactly as our note on 80TTA vs 80TTB says of the provisions it replaced.

Third, if he is on the old regime, the caveat on SCSS still applies: the statute names post offices, but we could not find any CBDT circular confirming SCSS specifically qualifies, and commentary is split. He would be on the reading rather than on settled guidance.

And the punchline for a retiree: run both regimes before assuming the old one is better. Giving up a ₹50,000 deduction sounds painful, but on the new regime a resident with total income up to ₹12 lakh can claim the section 156 rebate of up to ₹60,000, which can wipe out the tax entirely. For a modest pension the new regime often wins even after you surrender the deduction — which is exactly the comparison the 80TTA vs 80TTB post works through with numbers.

The contrast is the lesson. Same deposit size. One person has a tax problem, one has a form problem, and only one of them should be thinking about Form 121 at all.

For the wider SCSS picture — how the threshold interacts with balances, why most accounts never reach it, and what to do when a post office deducts despite a valid form — see SCSS Interest Tax: what actually matters at the ₹1,00,000 threshold. That post also covers the departmental order on branches deducting after a valid declaration was submitted, which is worth knowing about.

What to do today: five minutes, one screen

One screen, five minutes. Open Form 26AS on the e-filing portal and find your post office interest for the last two tax years. Note the figure, and note whether any TDS was deducted against it.

Then ask the question from earlier: is that interest exempt, or taxable?

If it is exempt — PPF, SSY, NSC — there is nothing to file. You are done. Close the tab.

If it is KVP, there is nothing to file either, but a different reason: no TDS is ever withheld on it under the section 393(4) carve-out. Report the interest in your return all the same, because taxable is taxable.

If it is taxable and under ₹50,000 (₹1,00,000 if you are 60 or over), there is nothing to file. You are under the TDS threshold. Report the interest in your return all the same, and remember that the threshold is not the deduction.

Two different ₹50,000s. ₹50,000 (₹1,00,000 for a senior) is the section 393 TDS threshold — the point at which the post office starts withholding, counted per payer. ₹50,000 (₹10,000 for a non-senior) is the section 153 deduction ceiling — the most you can set off against taxable deposit interest, across a banking company, a co-operative bank or a post office. Same number, different provision, different question. It is a ceiling, not a threshold, it applies at every level of interest including zero, and claiming it does not make the interest exempt. Being under the threshold does not cost you the deduction — but the regime does decide whether you get it: section 153 is a Chapter VIII deduction, and under section 202(2)(a)(xii) it is unavailable to a person taxed under the default new regime.

If it is taxable and above the threshold, and your estimated total tax for the year is nil, file Form No. 121 — section 393(6) if you are under 60 or an HUF, section 393(7) if you are 60 or over — once per post office, with a valid PAN, before the next interest credit. And if you are under 60 with specified incomes above your regime’s ceiling, the 393(6) income test blocks you. That is a fact about your finances, not about the form.

Key takeaways

• The threshold is ₹50,000, or ₹1,00,000 if you are 60 or over at any point of the year. Changed 1 April 2025. Section 393 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 carries the same numbers from 1 April 2026.
• TDS is on the whole amount once you cross it, not just the excess. It is per payer, not per account.
• Exempt interest is not taxable interest. PPF, SSY and NSC interest is exempt under section 11(1), Schedule II, Sl. No. 11 of the 2025 Act, so no TDS can arise and no form is needed. KVP is taxable, not exempt — but it sits in the section 393(4), Table Sl. No. 7(c)(ii) carve-out, so it is never withheld. SCSS interest is taxable, and whether the same carve-out catches it is unresolved.
• 15G and 15H are now Form 121, under sections 393(6) and 393(7) of the 2025 Act and Rule 211 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026.
• Below 60 you face two conditions — nil tax and specified income within the exemption ceiling for your regime. At 60+, only nil tax, with no income cap. A HUF can never use 393(7) — a family is not a senior citizen.
• The PAN rule is asymmetric, and both halves cost you money. Section 397(2)(f)(i) invalidates a 393(6) declaration filed without a valid PAN — the below-60 and HUF route. It does not name 393(7), so a 60-plus holder’s Form 121 survives that defect. But section 397(2)(b)(i) takes the deduction to 20% on either route.
• Two different ₹50,000s. Section 393 is the TDS threshold, per payer. Section 153 is the deduction ceiling, and it is a Chapter VIII deduction — old regime only, disallowed under section 202(2)(a)(xii) if you are on the default new regime. Being under the threshold does not cost you the deduction; your regime decides whether you get it.
• Penalties, cited under the 2025 Act: section 465(2)(f) at ₹500 per day for the 393(7) declaration (1961: 272A(2)), section 468 at ₹10,000 (1961: 272B), section 398(3) interest at 1% per month (1961: 234B).

Frequently asked questions

What is the TDS threshold on post office deposit interest? ₹50,000 of post office deposit interest in a tax year for a person under 60, or ₹1,00,000 if you are 60 or over at any point during the year. The limit is counted per payer, and once you cross it TDS applies to the whole amount, not just the excess.

Is PPF interest exempt from TDS? Yes. PPF, SSY and NSC interest is exempt from tax entirely under section 11(1), Schedule II, Sl. No. 11 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, so no TDS can arise on it and no declaration form is needed. The exemption is not limited to the old tax regime.

Is KVP interest taxable? Yes, KVP interest is taxable at your slab as income from other sources — it is not exempt. But no TDS is ever withheld on it, because section 393(4), Table Sl. No. 7(c)(ii) takes interest on deposits under notified Central Government schemes outside section 393 altogether. Taxable is not the same as withheld, and you still report the interest in your return.

Is SCSS interest taxable? Yes, SCSS interest is taxable at slab. It is not in the Schedule II exemption entries, and SCSS gives no EEE status. Whether TDS on it is withheld is genuinely unresolved, because section 393(4)’s carve-out for notified Central Government schemes appears on its face to reach SCSS, while in practice post offices deduct from large SCSS balances above the age-adjusted threshold. The sources disagree and this page does not pick a side.

What is the difference between the section 393 TDS threshold and the section 153 deduction? They are two different provisions that both contain ₹50,000. Section 393 is the TDS threshold — the point at which the payer starts withholding, counted per payer, ₹50,000 or ₹1,00,000 for a senior citizen. Section 153 is the deduction ceiling — the most you can set off against taxable deposit interest, ₹10,000 for a non-senior or ₹50,000 for a senior. Being under the TDS threshold does not cost you the deduction. Section 153 is a Chapter VIII deduction, so under section 202(2)(a)(xii) it is not available to a person taxed under the default new regime.

Which Form 121 route applies if I am under 60 — and what are its conditions? Section 393(6), the below-60 route, is open to individuals under 60 and to other persons such as an HUF, a trust, a company or a firm. It needs two things: tax on your estimated total income for the year must be nil, and your specified incomes must not exceed the maximum amount not chargeable to tax — ₹4,00,000 under the default new regime, ₹2,50,000 under the old regime below 60, ₹3,00,000 for 60 to under 80, and ₹5,00,000 for 80 and above.

Which Form 121 route applies if I am 60 or older — and what are its conditions? Section 393(7), the 60-and-over route, is open to a resident individual aged 60 or more at any time during the tax year. It has one condition only: tax on estimated total income must be nil. There is no cap on specified incomes at all, which is the whole point of the form — it removes the ceiling that closes the below-60 route on identical facts.

Can a HUF file the 60-and-over declaration? No. Section 393(7) is available only to an individual being a resident, and a Hindu Undivided Family is not an individual. A family cannot be a senior citizen. An HUF must use section 393(6), with the specified-income ceiling attached, and no change in the karta’s age alters that.

Do I still file Form 15G or 15H, or has the form changed? The numbering changed. Forms 15G and 15H have been merged into a single Form No. 121 under the Income-tax Act, 2025 — Form 15G maps to section 393(6) and Form 15H to section 393(7), both under Rule 211. If your post office asks for a 15H and hands you Form 121, that is correct, not an error. The two routes are still different tests.

What happens if I file Form 121 without a PAN? It does different damage on each route. Section 397(2)(f)(i) makes a declaration invalid if a valid PAN is not furnished, but it names only section 393(6) — the below-60 and HUF route — so a 60-and-over holder’s declaration survives that defect. Either way, section 397(2)(b)(i) takes the deduction at the higher of the stated rate or rates in force, or 20%.

How often do I file Form 121, and to whom? Once per payer, per tax year. The TDS threshold is counted per payer, so the declaration follows it: a separate submission to every post office paying you interest, and a declaration for one tax year does not carry into the next. File before the first interest credit of the year, ideally in April, because a form arriving after the credit does not un-deduct the tax — it only means you claim it back.

Sources

• Section 194A and the Finance Act, 2025 amendments (footnote 24, substitution of “forty” by “fifty”; footnote 27, substitution of “fifty thousand” by “one lakh” for senior citizens), w.e.f. 1 April 2025 — section 194A, Income-tax Act, 1961, incometaxindia.gov.in
• Section 11 and Schedule II, Income-tax Act, 2025, Sl. No. 11 (interest on notified savings certificates, other Central Government certificates and deposits) and Note 3; Sl. No. 3 (provident fund payment) and Sl. No. 5 (Sukanya Samriddhi payment) checked and not used — Schedule II, incometaxindia.gov.in
• Section 153, Income-tax Act, 2025, Chapter VIII Part D, including sub-section (1)(iii) naming “a Post Office as defined in section 2(d) of the Post Office Act, 2023” and the sub-section (2) ceilings — section 153, incometaxindia.gov.in
• Section 202(2)(a)(xii), Income-tax Act, 2025 — total income computed without any exemption or deduction under Chapter VIII other than the provisions of section 124(1) and 124(2), or 125(2) or 146 — Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by the Finance Act, 2026, the full Act PDF, incometaxindia.gov.in. Section 153 itself sits at Chapter VIII, Part D, “Deductions in respect of other incomes”, in the same PDF.
• Section 156 rebate, up to ₹60,000 for total income not exceeding ₹12 lakh under the new regime — as summarised in the section 202 analysis; see also the CBDT penalties-threshold table entry for section 87A equivalents
• Section 393(1) Table Sl. No. 5(ii)(c) thresholds; section 393(4) Table Sl. No. 7(c)(ii); sections 393(6) and 393(7) including the Note on age — section 393, incometaxindia.gov.in
• Section 397(2)(b)(i) and 397(2)(f)(i), Income-tax Act, 2025 — section 397, incometaxindia.gov.in
• Section 465(2)(f) and 465(3)(a); section 468; section 398(2) and 398(3), Income-tax Act, 2025 — section 465, section 468, section 398, all on incometaxindia.gov.in
• CBDT guidance on the 1 April 2026 cut-over to section 393 — CBDT e-filing portal
• CBDT Form No. 121 FAQs, including the 197A/393 mapping, the eligibility split by age, UIN format and PAN requirement — Form 121 FAQs, incometaxindia.gov.in
• Notification No. 01/CPC(TDS)/2026 dated 28 March 2026, UIN structure — as cited in the Form 121 FAQs
• CBDT threshold-limits table, including the legacy Senior Citizens Saving Scheme Rules, 2004 row at ₹1,00,000 under a 194A heading, and the exemption ceilings of ₹4,00,000 / ₹2,50,000 / ₹3,00,000 / ₹5,00,000 — CBDT threshold limits
• Section 234G as substituted by Act No. 12 of 2020 — section 234G, incometaxindia.gov.in
• Small savings rates for October–December 2026 as notified by the Department of Economic Affairs on 30 September 2026 (PPF 7.1%, SSY 8.2%, SCSS 8.2%, NSC 7.7%, KVP 7.5%, MIS 7.4%) — reported by Livemint, 1 October 2026
• SCSS 2019 scheme eligibility for the 55-to-60 retirement cohort and retired Defence Services personnel — NSI India scheme rules

Risk and scope: This is general education, not tax advice, and it does not cover every holder type — NRI holders, HUFs and joint accounts each have rules this page does not reach. The thresholds and the section numbering both changed recently and may change again; check Form 26AS and your post office’s own advice before acting on anything here.

Three points rest on inference or on a single source rather than on a CBDT circular, and should be treated accordingly. First, that the 1 April 2026 cut-over to section 393 follows from CBDT’s general guidance rather than from a notification read in full — confirm which section your post office actually applied to your latest credit. Second, the SCSS question set out above is genuinely unresolved; we have deliberately not picked a side, and if your post office or a CA tells you otherwise for your specific account, ask them for the provision they are relying on. Third, KVP’s taxability is well supported as to the tax, but we found no notification supporting any withdrawal date or grandfathering rule for it, so we have printed neither.

The regime treatment of section 153 is not in that list: it rests on the operative words of section 202(2)(a)(xii), which we have set out. The separate claim that SCSS qualifies under section 153 is flagged at the point of the claim above, because the statute names post offices while no CBDT circular confirms SCSS specifically — that caveat travels with the claim deliberately, not as a footnote.

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