How to Submit Form 13 ?

1. Why Form 13 - Reasons ?

Reasons for introduction of Lower or Nil deduction/collection of TDS/TCS

In certain circumstances,

1. The TDS will be deducted from the income of the receiver but the total tax liability at the end of the year is less and the deductee’s needs to wait for long time to claim the refund of tax deducted at source.


2. In case of sale of property by NRI, the buyers need to deduct TDS on sale value instead of capital gains.


3. In case of NRI’s earning rental income or interest income, the payer needs to deduct TDS @30% irrespective of the slab rate of NRI’s.

To avoid the above hardships faced by the taxpayers, Income tax department has introduced section 197 under Income Tax act 1961. Section 197 allows the taxpayers to apply for Lower deduction/collection of TDS/TCS or Nil deduction/collection of TDS/TCS

2. What is Form 13 ?

Form 13 is the application to apply for Lower deduction/collection of TDS/TCS or Nil deduction/collection of TDS/TCS. Form 13 needs to be filed only in Traces website. Once the form 13 is submitted In Traces portal, it will be forwarded to Jurisdictional Assessing officer for approval.

3. Who can file Form 13?

Form 13 can be filed by Residents, Non-Residents (NRI) and Resident but not ordinarily resident(RNOR). The taxpayer needs to submit his residential status while submitting Form 13 in Traces.

4. What are the Required details for Form 13

Following are the required details for Form 13

1. Residential Status of the applicant
2. District and State of the applicant
3. TAN of the person who is responsible to deduct TDS (Example: Buyer TAN is case of sale of property by NRI)
4. Nature of Receipt (Rent, Capital Gains, commission etc)
5. Estimated income to be received from the transaction.
6. Requested rate of tax deduction if known
7. Estimated income and TDS for current financial year.
8. Copy of ITR’s for last 4 years preceding the current financial year or income and Tax details for last 4 years

Note: In case of sale of property by NRI, Agreement of Sale, Sale deed at the time of purchase, copy of passport. Speak to EZTax for additional help.

5. Steps for filing Form 13 post registration on TRACES

1. Login to Traces through https://www.tdscpc.gov.in/app/login.xhtml
2. Go to Statements/Forms and click on request for Form 13
3. Select the residentials Status.
4. Select the request type as original and select the applicable financial year and select the application type as online.
5. Basic details of the authorized person registered on TRACES portal shall be auto populated and enter the state and district.
6. Enter the responsible TAN, Nature of receipt and required rate of TDS/TCS deduction.
7. Upload the Income and Tax liability of current year and last 4 years and e-verify either through aadhaar otp/mobile number registered with traces/net banking/Digital signature

6. Post submission of Form 13

Form 13 will be submitted to jurisdictional assessing officer and the jurisdictional assessing officer will be decided on the basis of state and district provided by the applicant in Form 13

1. The AO reviews the details and documents and asks for clarifications, if any;
2. Post AO approval, the application is forwarded to Addl CIT for his approval;
3. Post approval by Addnl CIT, the application is sent to CIT for review and final approval
4. Post approval by CIT, the application is successfully completed and the process for generation of lower withholding certificated is initiated;
5. Once Lower Withholding certificate is generated, the same can be downloaded from TRACES portal.