Income Tax Filing 2017: Here is why you should check Form 26AS

Zee Media Bureau/Smriti Srivastava

July 31 has been set as a deadline to file income tax return for financial year 2016-17. For many salaried employees, the first thing that would strike their mind while filing ITR is Form 16.

**Form 16 is the TDS(Tax Detected at Source) certificate that is issued by an employer (when they deduct TDS) to the employee.

But there is another essential document- Form 26AS, that should be accessed by the salaried employee before filing ITR.

What is Form 26AS?

Form 26AS is essentially a tax credit statement which displays all taxes received by the I-T department. The form is accessible from the tax department's website.

Why Form 26AS is crucial?

• This form plays extremely vital role in ensuring that all due credits for TDS deducted from an employee's salary or FD interest are suitably accounted for.
  
• Any discrepancy in the TDS data projected in Form 26AS from what is claimed in ITR will lead to automatic generation of demand by Centralized Processing Centre of I-T department successive filing of ITR.
  
• It could also create problem for tax payers in case of excess TDS reflected in the form.
  
• In such situation, I-T department may ask the person for the parallel income which the person may not have mentioned in his/her ITR.
  
• If, in any case, there is any mismatch in TDS data figures in Form 16 and Form 26AS, employee should approach his/her employer who has deducted TDS on his income and tell them to get his/her TDS return redressed to adjust.
  
• In Form 26AS, tax payer can also see the refund he/she has recieved for previous assessment year.

Steps to approach your Form 26AS

• Log in to your account on income tax department's website (incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) for tax filing.
  
• Move to 'My Account' tab and select Form 26AS from the drop down menu.
  
• The taxpayer will be instructed to move to TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System (TRACES) website, after confirmation.
  
• Next, the tax payer will be able to select the assessment year and format in which he/she would like to view Form 26AS.
  
• Enter the date of birth (same as printed in PAN card) in ddmmyy format (example, for 12-Nov-2017, enter as 12112017) to open file as it serves as the password for Form 26AS PDF/test file.