If you do not have any taxable income and do not have PAN (Permanent Account Number) but are planning to leave the country, you have to file a ‘Form 157’ certificate with the Income Tax (IT) department. This is a declaration form that is mandatory (with some exceptions) under the IT Act, 2025. This replaces forms such as 156 under the old tax regime and is aimed at better compliance by getting details of outbound travellers who are outside the tax bracket.
Under the old IT regime, PAN was mandatory for filing ‘Form 156’ that was required to be filed by outbound travellers. While ‘Form 156’ could be filed on the e-filing portal of the IT department in the old regime, ‘Form 157’ can be done only manually under the IT Act, 2025.
“Form 157 is a certificate to be furnished by persons domiciled in India leaving India. It is to be filed at time of departure. These persons are those without PAN, without chargeable income or (are) not required to take PAN,” according to the IT Department. “Form 157 is mandatory subject to exceptions notified, if any, by the government from time to time,” it said.
Incidentally, this certificate has to be filed every time the person leaves India. “Form 157 is event-based and is filed each time the applicable domiciled person is leaving India. Thus, the frequency of filing is dependent on the number of journeys undertaken by a domiciled person outside India,” the IT Department said.
The following documents are required for filing Form 157
Passport or PAN (if available) of the person leaving India
In the absence of Passport, ‘Emergency Certificate’ of the country issuing the same
There is no need to attach any proofs or other documents while filing the form. “Form 157 is a simple declaration in form of certificate giving details of the person leaving India certifying that the person has no income chargeable to tax in India or is not required to have PAN. Tax payments are not part of the details to be given,” IT Department said.
There is no need to submit Aadhaar details, but, according to the IT department, providing mobile number ensures faster communication and verification. The IT department has recommended that those who file the form can provide mobile number details at the time of filing.
The form cannot be processed online and can be submitted only manually by the person leaving India before the respective ‘Jurisdictional Assessing Officer’. Since ‘Form 157’ is manual, it can be corrected before the submission to ‘Assessing Officer’ and also later, with a request to account for the rectified form.
