The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance has notified the Income-tax Rules, 2026. These rules are pertaining to 159, 160, 161, 211, and 237 of the new Income-tax Rules have also gained prominence for compliance requirements. These compliances are related to specified high-value transactions such as deposits, withdrawals, account opening, and Time Deposit transactions of Post Office.
The rules have mandated the collection of PAN or submission of Form No.97 with filing of Form No.98 and reporting of such transactions through the Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) within the prescribed timelines.
CBDT has said that the following instructions shall be followed by all Post Offices:
In all specified transactions given under new Income-Tax Rules, depositors will have to mandatorily quote PAN.
“In cases where a depositor does not possess a PAN, Form No.97 shall be obtained in accordance with the provisions under the Income-tax Rules, 2026 with complete details including name, address, nature and amount of transaction, and the documents etc. Post Offices shall verify the identity, ensure that the form is duly filled and signed, the relevant documents have been submitted by the depositor. Form No.97 shall be retained by the Post Office for a period of six years from the end of the financial year in which the transaction was undertaken,” CBDT said.
Till the requisite changes are made in the Finacle for incorporating the provision related to Form No.97, the existing functionality and procedure available in Finacle for Form No.60, shall be used for accepting the request of depositors.
Duly filled and verified Form No.98 shall be sent to Head Post Office concerned and the Head Postmaster shall report the details to the Income-tax Department through Form No.98 within prescribed timelines.
Timelines for filing Form No.98
1. Where declarations are received up to 30th September, the statement shall be furnished by 31st October of the same year.
2. Where declarations are received up to 31st March, the statement shall be furnished by 30th April of the immediately following financial year.
The concerned DDO should ensure that the detailed statement (Form No.98) related to Form No.97 is reported to Income Tax Department as per the time schedule given in the Income Tax Rule, 2026 without fail, said the CBDT.
Further, Form No.121 shall be obtained from customers seeking non-deduction of tax on interest income, in place of Forms 15G and 15H.
Till the requisite changes for incorporating the provision related to Form No.121 are made in Finacle, existing functionality and procedure applicable to Form No. 15G/15H shall be followed for accepting request of depositors. Duly filled and verified Part B of Form No.121 shall be sent to Head Office concerned for further necessary action.
Head Postmaster (DDOs) shall manually allot a 26-character Unique Identification Number (UIN) to each declaration received from the depositor in Form No.121, during every quarter of the financial year in accordance with the procedures, formats and standards specified by the Director General of Income tax (Systems), till such provision is developed in Finacle.
In respect of Form No.121, the DDO concern should ensure, that a TDS statement for non-tax deduction cases is filed quarterly by 7th of the month following the quarter in accordance with the Rule 219 of Income Tax Rules 2026.
In addition, as per Rule 237 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026, the Director, CPRC, Chennai, shall ensure reporting of the Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) in Form No. 165, and submission of other TDS returns within the prescribed timelines under the Income-tax Rules, 2026.
