How to file Income Tax return if Form 16 is not received?

For salaried personnel, Form 16 is required to file their annual ITR. Salaried employees, on the other hand, can file their taxes even if they don’t have a Form 16.

We’ll look at how a salaried employee can file income tax returns without using Form 16 in this article.

What is Form 16?

Form 16 is an important document that all employers must provide to their employees. It’s essentially a TDS certificate that lists the taxable income and deductions of the employee. It is a necessary document for employees to use when filing their taxes.

When an employer deducts TDS from salaries, the Income Tax Act requires the employer to issue a TDS certificate once a year, on or before the 15th June of the financial year immediately succeeding the year in which tax is deducted.

Employers may refuse to provide employees with a Form 16 in certain circumstances. Employees whose taxable income does not exceed the basic exemption ceiling are frequently observed not receiving a Form 16 from their employers.

As long as their gross income is above the basic exemption level of Rs 2.5 lakhs, all salaried employees must file their yearly IT returns (and it is permissible to do so even if they do not obtain a Form 16).

Form 16 not issued by the employer

Is the employer obligated to issue a Form 16 if there are no TDS?

Only when TDS has been deducted is a TDS certificate in Form 16 necessary to be supplied to the employee. If your employer has not deducted TDS, he may not provide you a Form 16.

When an employer withholds TDS yet fails to issue a certificate.

Anyone in charge of paying a salary is expected to withhold tax at the source from the amount owed. According to the Act, anyone who deducts TDS from a payment must provide a TDS certificate with data to the person to whom the payment is made.

An employer is required to provide you with a certificate, in the form of Form 16, stating that tax has been paid to the Central Government, the amount paid, the quarter for which the tax was paid, and other prescribed information.

If your employer fails to give you a Form 16 after deducting TDS, the employer must pay a minimum penalty of Rs 100 for each day the default persists. You can write to the Assessing Officer about your employer’s failure, and the Assessing Officer may take necessary action against the employer, including levying the penalty specified above and initiating additional proceedings.

You can check your TDS details from your Form 26AS; if the details don’t show up, it means your employer deducted TDS from you but didn’t deposit it with the government! In this instance, you may have to pay your tax to the government and then file a claim with your employer.

Is it true that if I haven’t received a Form 16, I won’t have to pay tax or file a return?

While the employer is responsible for deducting tax from salaries and giving a TDS certificate in respect of TDS, you are responsible for calculating and paying taxes on your income as well as filing income tax returns. You must pay tax if your total income, including salaries, is greater than the basic tax exemption amount. Whether or whether your employer deducted any tax from you, or even if he fails to provide you a Form 16, you are required to calculate tax and file tax returns.

Steps for Filing ITR Without a Form 16.

Salaried taxpayers who haven’t received their Form 16 can file their IT returns by following the guidelines below.

1. Determine all sources of income. To begin, total income from all sources for the fiscal year must be determined. Taxpayers must include income from sources such as salary and pension – you can use your pay stubs to do this. Add up your net salary from all of the paystubs you’ve received from your company throughout the fiscal year. If you changed employment during the year, make sure you submit pay stubs from all employers you worked for.
2. Determine TDS on income Using their Form 26AS, taxpayers can determine TDS on their income for the financial year.
3. Determine the number of TDS deducted from your earnings. Many employees’ salaries include a House Rent Allowance (HRA) component. You must submit your rent receipts to your payroll department in advance to receive the HRA deduction. If you haven’t given your employer the receipts, you can always claim them when you file your taxes.
4. Calculate the total revenue for the year. Total income for the year must be calculated after all sources of income have been determined and TDS has been deducted. Consider the following: rent from a house, capital gain on the sale of any capital asset, interest from bank accounts and FDs, and so on. Total income is the sum of all revenue received and TDS deducted from it.
5. Claim Deductions There are a variety of payments and investments that can be deducted from your income when filing your taxes. When calculating total taxable income, make careful to include such deductions. When claiming a Provident Fund deduction, make sure you claim only your contribution to the PF, not your employer’s.
6. Calculate your entire taxable income. The total taxable income must be calculated after the deductions to be claimed have been determined. Deducting the entire deductions to be claimed (as estimated in Step 4) from the total income produced in the financial year yields total taxable income.
7. Calculate the year’s tax liability. The taxpayer’s tax liability for the year can be calculated by applying the tax slab rates that apply to him or her.
8. Calculate the amount of tax due. If the tax liability determined in Step 6 is less than the TDS deducted on income, the difference is the tax that must be paid by the taxpayer. The excess tax has been paid if the TDS deducted is greater than the tax liability. When filing IT returns, the taxpayer can claim a refund for any excess tax paid.
9. Once all of the above stages have been accomplished, the taxpayer can proceed to file IT returns for the year.

Final Thoughts

You can always update your return if you receive your Form 16 later from your employer and notice some differences between the return filed and Form 16, but you must do so before 31 January 2022 (due date extended) for the return submitted for FY 2020-21.