What is Form 12BB? How to fill Form 12BB for investment declarations?

The new financial year has begun, and chances are your HR has already started asking for your investment declarations for the upcoming year.

But why does your employer need these investment details?

Well, your employer is responsible for deducting tax at source (TDS) from your salary every month. If they don’t have a clear picture of your tax-saving investments and expenses, they might end up deducting more tax than necessary, leaving you with a lower take-home salary.

To avoid this, employers ask you to declare your tax-saving investments at the start of each financial year. This helps them calculate your taxable income more accurately and deduct the right amount of TDS.

How to declare your investments to the employer?

All salaried employees are required to submit Form 12BB to their employer in order to claim tax benefits on eligible investments and expenses.

The Income Tax Department has provided a standard format for Form 12BB, and your HRMS portal will usually have it ready to fill out.

Here’s what you’ll need to provide:

  1. Basic details – Your name, PAN, designation, address, and the financial year for which you’re declaring these investments.
  2. House Rent Allowance (HRA) – Expected rent to be paid and landlord details (name, address, PAN).
  3. Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) – If you plan to claim exemptions on travel expenses, then you can add these details.
  4. Deductions – Investments and expenses under sections like 80C (LIC, PPF, NPS, ELSS), 80D (health insurance), 80E (education loan), etc.
  5. Home loan – Details of the principal repayment and interest payable against home loan during the year.

Since this declaration is done at the beginning of the financial year, you just need to provide an estimate of the investments you plan to make. It’s okay if the actual amount varies by the end of the year. You’ll have the chance to submit actual proofs later, and your final TDS will be adjusted accordingly.

:bulb:Form 12BB is especially useful if you’re filing your ITR under the old tax regime, since most tax-saving options aren’t available under the new regime.

Finally, let me answer a few FAQs on form 12BB:

Q. When should I submit Form 12BB?

Ideally in April or May, at the start of the financial year.

Q. Do I need to submit Form 12BB to the income tax department?

No, it only needs to be submitted to your employer.

Q: What if I switch jobs during the year?

You’ll need to declare your investments to your new employer as well. Also, share the income and TDS details from your previous employer so that they can calculate your total TDS correctly.

Q: What if my investment plans change by year-end?

No problem. You can submit the actual proofs at year-end or make corrections while filing your Income Tax Return (ITR).

Q: What is the difference between form 12BAA and 12BB?

Form 12BB is for declaring your tax-saving investments and deductions. Form 12BAA is used to report TDS/TCS collected or deducted on other types of income or expenses, helping your employer calculate TDS more accurately.

My employer is asking me to disclose all investments I am planning to make this year. They are saying it is to deduct accurate TDS - I am not comfortable disclosing my investment plans.

I have to give Form 12BB to my employer, what are details do I need to submit?

Hi,

In Form 12BB, you need to give the following details in your Form 12BB

Here are the steps to file Form 12BB with your employer.

Hi Yatrik,

The employer may ask you to disclose your Investment plans so that they can deduct accurate TDS.
In case you do not want to disclose your investment plans with your employer, they may deduct excess TDS from your salary.
You can claim this TDS while filing your Income Tax Return.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

Can we do it at the start of every month? It’s May starting now and I just started my SIP in an ELSS fund. I was thinking if I could declare this so that my tax amount from my salary gets reduced.

Hi @Kaushik_Seetha

You need to submit your investment declaration to your employer at the beginning of the Financial year, around April or May. Your employer will then calculate the TDS to be deducted from your salary.

Most of us would be aware of what a Form “12B” is (Not 12BB or 12BA). It needs to be submitted to the new employer if switching jobs in the middle of a FY. Columns in this form are very ambiguous and there is no concrete information available on what exact details need to go in the form.

Questions on Form 12B:

1. Column# 8 - accretion to employee’s provident fund: Do we need to mention both employer + employee’s contribution here? OR just Employee’s contribution?

2. Column# 10 - Heading shows Deductions w.r.t 80C: Do we need to mention only 80C deduction OR all deductions like 80C+80D+80E etc etc

3. Column# 11 - TDS: Do we need to mention only TDS OR TDS + Professional Tax

4. Which column should include Tax exempt portion of “Leave Encashment”? Column 6 OR 7 OR 8 OR not required to be mentioned on Form 12B?

Any help with the above questions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

@Bharti_Vasvani if you can help.

Hello @cnishith1,

Here are the answers to your questions:

  1. Employer’s contribution is to be mentioned since as per section 17(2) it is treated as a prerequisite. Interest/ dividend earned on such contribution of more than 7.5 Lakhs shall also be included if any.
  2. All deductions should be mentioned including deduction u/s 24 (interest on housing loan).
  3. TDS and professional tax deducted both have to be mentioned.
  4. You can mention the taxable portion of leave encashment in column 7 (not required to mention the exempt amount).

Hope this helps!

Thank You Bharti. This helps a lot!

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Which Section in form 12BB do I need to fill for section 80CCD1B (NPS deductions)? Please help. @Bharti_Vasvani ? @cnishith1

Hello @Cuppajava_Mattiz,

In Form 12BB, there is a section to enter details of deductions, there you can add the deduction under section 80CCD(1B) and the amount invested.

Hope this helps!

@Bharti_Vasvani , I only see Deduction under Chapter VI-A : (A) Sections 80C, 80CCC and 80CCD and (B) Other sections (e.g. 80E, 80G, 80TTA, etc.) : under Chapter VI-A
Can you kindly tell me which is the appropriate section? This was what I was confused about. I do not see 80CCD(1B)