What is Form 12BB?
Form 12BB is the statement an employee gives the employer of the claims the employer should consider while deducting tax from salary. Rule 26C requires that statement for the estimate under section 192. The employee does not file it on the income-tax portal, and it is not the annual return.
Who receives the form?
The person who pays the salary receives it. That is the employer. The employer uses the particulars to estimate the income chargeable under the head “Salaries” and to deduct tax through the year. If the claims change, the employee gives fresh particulars. The employer does not send this form in as the employee’s return. The return the employee files later is on the income-tax return page.
Which claims does it carry?
The form identifies the employee and the permanent account number. It carries house rent paid, where house rent allowance is claimed, interest on a loan taken for a house, and the deductions under Chapter VI-A that the employee wants the employer to consider, with the evidence for those claims. It can also carry other income the employee reports so that the employer’s estimate is not limited to salary. This page does not set out a blank form and does not quote a deduction ceiling. Those ceilings are in the Act for the year, and they are not created by the form.
Does the form choose the tax regime?
No. Most of the claims the form is used for, including most Chapter VI-A deductions and the house rent allowance exemption, are not available when the employee is taxed under the new regime. Giving the employer a Form 12BB does not opt into the old regime. The option, where the Act still requires a form for it, is a different filing. Form 10-IEA is that filing for the persons it covers, and it is explained on the Form 10-IEA page. The slabs for the year those highlights cover are on the 2025-26 budget page.
Frequently asked questions
Four questions cover where the form goes, the new regime, a blank sheet, and evidence.
Is Form 12BB filed with the income-tax department?
No. The employee gives it to the employer. The employer uses it to estimate salary income and deduct tax. The annual return is a different form.
Does the new regime use the same claims?
No. Most Chapter VI-A deductions, and the exemptions this form is used to claim, are not available when tax is computed under the new regime. Handing in the form does not switch the employee into the old regime.
Is a blank sheet the form?
No. The form states the employee’s name and PAN and the evidence for the claims. A page of blanks is not that statement.
Does the employer need evidence?
Yes. Rule 26C asks for the evidence or particulars of the claims, such as rent, housing-loan interest, and the Chapter VI-A deductions the employee wants considered.
Sources
Form 12BB is prescribed by rule 26C of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, for the estimate of tax deducted from salary under section 192.