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Form 26AS is essentially, an annual consolidated tax statement that you can access from the Income-Tax website using your Permanent Account Number (PAN). Form 26AS is provided to you by the TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System (also known as TRACES).
As a taxpayer, if you are wondering 'what is Form 26AS?', then the details of the taxes paid or any tax that has been deducted from your income are available in the database of the Income-tax department. Thus, you can refer to your Form 26AS and verify details of your taxable income and any taxes that have been deducted by your employer and submitted to the Government treasury. Moreover, the Form 26AS also comprises details of your employer and other institutions, which are eligible to deduct taxes from your income [such as their names and Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN)].
As explained above, to answer the question - what is form 26AS, it provides a summary of your income tax deducted in a given financial year. Thus, Form 26AS depicts information about the different taxes deducted from your income by various institutions, including your employer and bank.
The Form 26AS also depicts information about any self-assessment tax or any advance tax that you may have paid in a particular financial year such as TDS (or tax that is collected at source). Furthermore, the Form 26AS also contains details of any income tax refunds that you may have received from the Income Tax department for that financial year. You can also access the different Annual Information Return (or AIR) transaction details in your Form 26AS. AIR is filed by your bank if you have completed some specified transactions with them.
To summarise, your Form 26AS contains the following information:
If you are wondering about what is Form 26AS, it contains the following sub-parts:
Part A of the Form 26AS provides the quarterly information about the TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) deducted on the salary drawn, pension income and income earned on interest. It also contains information about the TDS collected and deposited along with the following details:
Part A1 contains details of income on which there is no TDS deduction because the taxpayer has submitted either Form 15G or 15H. In case, you have not submitted Form 15G or Form 15H, Part A1 of the Form 26AS will display 'No transactions present'.
Part A2 of the Form 26AS comprises details of the TDS deducted on immovable properties that you (taxpayer) may have sold during the previous year. In case, you have sold any property during the last financial year, and TDS was deducted, this information will reflect under this section.
Part B of the Form 26AS includes details of tax collected at source (TCS) from a taxpayer after they have purchased specific goods from a seller. TCS is collected by the seller of these specific goods. Part B will depict all relevant details related to the seller, such as:
Part C displays all relevant details of income tax that you have paid directly (such as self-assessment tax and advance tax), and TDS challan details (through which you have submitted this tax in the bank.)
AIR or 'Annual Information Return' is a mandatory disclosure for Banks and other financial institutions, in which they have to report any high-value transactions carried out by you (taxpayer) to the Income Tax department.
The details of AIR transactions may include purchases of high-value mutual funds, purchase of property, and purchases of high-value corporate bonds. All high-value transactions are to be reported under Annual Information Return in Part E of Form 26AS.
Experts deem Form 26AS to be a crucially important tool that helps you in the comparison of your taxes deducted at different sources. Also, Form 26AS helps identify whether you have any multiple deductions in a given financial year. If there has been a tax deduction, which is not visible under your Form 26AS, it implies that the same has not been deposited with the Income Tax department.
Thus, you can contact your employer's time and inform them of the same. In most cases, any tax deducted which is not updated in your Form 26AS is due to an incorrect update of the PAN number at the source.
Furthermore, if you are wondering what is Form 26AS and whether your Form 26AS is available after you have completed income tax login on site, you must consider that the Form contains different values for TDS. Furthermore, you can contact the Income Tax Department and request them to recheck your case and make the necessary amends. Otherwise, you may incur a penalty to the Income Tax Department for not reporting the actual TDS of your income.
Due to the importance of 26AS Form in double checking key details like TDS when filing your Income Tax Return (ITR). In order to do so, you need to know how to view and download Form 26AS. Below is a step by step guide on how to do it:
Step 1. Go to the Income Tax e-filing website and log in using your e-filing credentials. Once logged in click on “e-file” and navigate to “View Form 26AS” under the “Income Tax Returns” section as shown below:
Step 2. Subsequently, you will get redirected to the TRACES website as shown below. You have agree to the usage and acceptance of Form 16/16A and click on “Proceed”.
Step 3. On the subsequent page, as shown below, click on “View Tax Credit (Form 26AS/Annual Tax Statement) to proceed further.
Step 4. On the subsequent page, as shown below, select the Assessment Year and select View as HTML option to view your Form 26AS online on the TRACES website. To view the form, just scroll down this page. Alternately, you can click on “Export as PDF” to download Form 26AS.
You can also log into the TRACES website directly if you have log-in credentials for the website to view and down the form. Currently, due to the importance of Form 26AS, it can also be accessed through the Internet Banking of major banks in India provided your PAN details have been updated with the bank.
The differences between Form 16 and 16 A are enumerated in the table below:
| Features | Form 16 | Form 16A | Form 26AS |
|---|---|---|---|
| To whom is it issued? | Salaried individuals | Non-salaried Individuals | All taxpayers |
| Where are taxes applicable? | On salary | On income from sources other than salary – professional fees, bank interest payments, and rent | On TDS (Tax Deducted at Source), Advance Tax, Income Tax Refunds |
| How often is the Form issued? | Annually | Quarterly | No issuance, tax payer can check at any point of time |
| What does the Form contain? | Proof of income, PAN of employee and employer (they have to provide TAN details), details of TDS deducted by the employer, acknowledgement of amount of tax paid | PAN of deductee, TAN & PAN of the deductor, the amount paid and receipt number of TDS payment | Details of Tax Deducted at Source, Advance tax, High-value transactions and Income Tax refunds |
| It is governed by which law? | TDS from income chargeable under the subhead 'Salaries' of Section 203 of the IT Act | TDS from income other than salary under Section 203 of the IT Act for | Section 203AA of Income-tax Act, 1961 |
Typically, the Form 26AS document comprises 3 to 4 pages, based on the number of TDS/TCS-related entries that you may have to furbish in the Form. Form 26AS is available on the TRACES (TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System) website. For each financial year assessment, the details updated in Form 26AS vary is divided into different Parts (as described above).
Here is what Form 26AS does look like:
The introduction of the Form 26AS is a welcome initiative by the Income-tax department, which prevents the need to submit the different TDS certificates (Form 16 or 16A) at the time of filing your tax return.
Before submitting the Form 26AS, however, you must verify the details available in the Form 26AS and highlight discrepancies, if any, such as instances of over-reporting or underreporting of your income or taxes. Doing so will allow you to get the necessary rectifications made by your employer and any other deductors. At the same time, reviewing your Form 26AS beforee-filing your income tax helps avoid any inquiry by the Income-tax department at a later date, due to any tax mismatches.
As a taxpayer, thus, you must make sure that the taxes claimed at the time of filing your returns are in line with the taxes as depicted in your Form 26AS.
ARN: Dec22/Bg/08B
Sources
[1] https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/tax-services/online-26AS-e-filing-website.aspx
[2] https://contents.tdscpc.gov.in/en/ft13.html
[3] https://www.tin-nsdl.com/authorized-banks.html
[4] https://contents.tdscpc.gov.in/en/ft12.html
[5] https://contents.tdscpc.gov.in/en/ft9.html
[6] https://www.taxmann.com/blogpost/2000000419/what-is-form-26as.aspx
[7] https://contents.tdscpc.gov.in/en/faq-taxpayer-functionality.html#
[8] https://cleartax.in/s/view-form-26as-tax-credit-statement
[9] https://www.coverfox.com/personal-finance/tax/form-26as/
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