When are you required to fill Form-16 for filing Income Tax Return?

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Form-16 plays an important role in filing Income Tax Return. The company in which you work gives you the Form-16. Generally, all the employees get Form-16 by June 15. If you have not received Form-16, then you can find out about it from the employer.

Form-16 mentions the salary given to the employee, the exemption and deduction claimed on his behalf. Not only this, it also contains information about the Tax Deducted at Source on the salary by the employer. It is mandatory for the company to issue Form-16 to the employee under section 203 of the Income Tax Act. Match the details given in Form-16 with the pre-field data of ITR form when the return is filed online. After this, details from Form-16 are taken and filled in ITR form in offline mode.

Form-16 has two parts. Part-A and Part-B. Part-A contains the name, address and PAN of the employer and the employee along with the TAN number of the employer. There are details of the salary given and the TDS details deducted on it. This TDS i.e. tax is deposited with the government.

Part-B of Form-16 contains the complete details of salary, exemptions, deductions and taxes. This includes gross salary, exemption allowances like HRA under section 10, standard deduction under section 16, details of deduction 80C, 80D and tax under Chapter VI-A are included in it.

After getting Form 16, first you have to check your PAN number. If the PAN number is wrong in Form-16, then the tax deducted from your salary will not appear in your Form 26AS. In this case, you will not be able to claim adjust TDS while filing income tax return.

The second thing you have to check in Form-16 is that all the allowances you claimed for exemption in front of the employer are properly reported in Form-16 or not. These allowances mainly include House Rent Allowance (HRA) and Leave Travel Assistance (LTA). Also see that deductions are also properly included in Form-16. Company name, address and TAN must be cross-checked.

You have to match the TDS deducted in Form-16 with the tax deduction given in Form 26AS and Annual Information Statement (AIS). If there is any TDS which is showing in your Form-16 but not showing in Form 26AS then too you will not be able to adjust it.

Form 26AS is a kind of tax passbook. It contains information about all the taxes deposited with PAN. Along with the tax deducted by the employer and the bank, the information about advance tax and self-assessment tax is also there.

You can download Form 26AS from the Income Tax Department’s e-filing portal (https://eportal.incometax.gov.in/). After logging in to the portal, you will have to go to the ‘e-file’ option. Where in the option of ‘Income Tax Return’ you will see View Form 26AS option. By clicking on it Form 26AS will be downloaded. Similarly AIS can be accessed through Income Tax website or AIS app.

Many times some deductions of the employee are not visible in Form-16. Due to this, more TDS is deducted. The main reason for this is that when the employer asks for the details of the investment from the employee, then at times the employee forgets to give the details of some deductions or invests after submitting the investment proof. The details of such investments are not mentioned in Form-16. In such a situation, deduction on these investments can be taken while filing income tax return.

Exemption and deduction can be claimed in the old tax regime only.

If you have changed jobs within a financial year, then Form-16 will have to be taken from both the old and the new employer.

Usually the last date for filing the return is 31st July. Return should be filed before that or else a fine of Rs 5,000 is imposed.

There is more scope for mistake on filing return in the last minute. In such a situation, ITR should be filled on time.