Form 26AS

Form 26 AS is a consolidated tax statement which contains details relating to TDS deducted from your income, taxes paid during year, refunds received etc.

Form 26 AS has -

·       various taxes deducted on your income by deductors: be it your employer, bank, or even a tenant.

·       details of any advance tax or self-assessment tax that you may have paid during the year

·        details of tax collected at source (TCS)

·       details of any income tax refund received from the tax department

·       details of Annual Information Return (AIR), which is filed by different entities based on what an individual has invested or spent

So all in all, Form 26AS is a document which captures all the taxes paid by you by way of deduction or otherwise in one place making it easier for you to claim the credit of taxes paid at the time of filing of your tax return. 

The information in the Form 26AS is generally updated on a quarterly basis. The year-end tax credits as reflecting in the Form 26AS are eligible to be claimed while filing the tax return. 

Details of taxes in the statement are based on data submitted by deductors and sellers, after confirmation from the banks that the taxes have been received.

Similar to form 26 AS is form 16 and 16A which are TDS certificates issued to the taxpayer by employer or other institutions which deduct tax on income. In case the tax deducted shown in your TDS certificates (Form 16 or 16A) is not reflecting in your Form 26AS it means that the deductor has either not paid it to the government or it may be on account of an error or delay in filing TDS returns by the deductor. In such a case you can follow up with the deductor and get it corrected, preferably before filing your tax returns.

It is of utmost importance that information furnished in form 16, 16A and form 26AS should correspond. Any discrepancy could lead to the tax authority issuing a notice.

Therefore, both these forms should concile so that a proper and full ITR can be filed successfully.

How to access your form 26AS ?

There are two ways to access Form 26AS:

1)   The more common way of doing so is by registering with TRACES (TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System). Listed below are the steps to view the form;

·       Go to Income tax website - incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and log on to your account;

·       Go to ‘My Account’ and click on ‘View Form 26AS’ in the drop down menu;

·       On confirmation, the taxpayer will be re-directed to the TRACES website;

·       Click on ‘View Tax Credit’ (FORM 26AS). The taxpayer will be required to enter the assessment year and format in which they would like to see FORM 26AS.

·       The form is password protected and the taxpayer would be required to enter their password. The password of Form 26AS is date of birth in DDMMYYYY format.

2)   The other way of viewing Form 26AS is through net banking facility. However, Form 26AS can be viewed only if the PAN number is linked to the bank account. However, till now only select banks are authorised to provide Form 26AS.