ITR Filing 2023-24: Mismatch in Form 16 and Form 26AS? Do this to avoid Income Tax Dept’s Notice

The Income Tax Return (ITR) filing deadline is getting closer with July 31st as the due date. Most salaried taxpayers may have gotten Form 16 from their employers as early as the third week of June, and those who have not will receive it by the end of the month.

If you are a salaried taxpayer and have recently received Form 16 from your company, you need to do a significant task before completing your income tax return for the financial year 2023-24 (Assessment Year 2024-25). The first thing you should do is compare your Form 16 to Form 26AS.

What do Form 26AS and Form 16 include?

Form 26AS provides information about all taxes paid by a taxpayer. The document includes TDS deducted by employers, banks, and other deductors. Form 16, a certificate given by employers to salaried employees, includes information such as salary income, TDS deducted by the employer and different allowances.

Once Form 16 is received, it is essential to double-check the income and tax data in Form 26AS.

Form 26AS is a consolidated Annual Information Statement for a particular Financial Year (FY) and has included the following details:

• TDS.
• TCS.
• Deposit of advance tax, self-assessment tax, or regular assessment tax.
• Refunds received throughout the financial year (if any).
• Information of any Specified Financial Transactions (SFT) (if applicable).
• Details of Tax Deducted on sale of immovable property u/s194IA (in case of seller of such property).
• TDS Defaults (if any).
• Demand and refund-related information.
• Details relating to pending and completed proceedings.

Form 16 verifies that taxes have been withheld from an employee’s salary. Simply put, it is a document proving that tax has been deducted and deposited with the income tax department.

Taxpayers have to download their Form 26AS from the income tax website and verify the tax details present in it with the Form 16 given by their employer. Now the question arises, how do you get Form 26AS??

How to Download Form 26AS?

Let’s know how you can download this crucial Form 26AS. Here are the steps given below, by following these steps one can download their own Form 26AS.

Step 1: Go to the official Income tax e-filing website.

Step 2: Log in with your user ID and Password.

Step 3: After login, proceed to ‘My Account’ and select ‘View Form 26AS’ from the menu.

Step 4: You will get the option of ‘Confirm’ and by clicking ‘Confirm’, you will be redirected to the website of TRACES.

Step 5: Click ‘Proceed’ after selecting the box on the screen after reaching to the TRACES website and then to get your Form 26AS, click View Tax Credit.

Step 6: Select the format in which you wish to view Form 26AS as well as the Assessment Year. Like, if you want to see it online then select HTML and if you like to download it as  PDF, then choose PDF Format.

Step 7: After selecting, then you can see and download Form 26AS in the respective format you have chosen.

Now, if you downloaded Form 26AS, you can start cross-checking all the details given in this form with your Form 16.

What to do if you find a mismatch between Form 16 and Form 26AS?

To ensure accurate reporting of income and taxes paid, taxpayers must rectify any discrepancies between Form 16 and Form 26AS. If you fail to reconcile inconsistencies between these two forms, you may receive a notice from the income tax department.

Mismatches can lead to problems and penalties. As a result, for a smooth tax filing procedure, you must actively participate in the verification and alignment of Form 26AS and Form 16.

How to rectify the TDS mismatch?

• In the event of a mismatch between Forms 16 and 26AS, you must first notify your employer or company who deducted TDS from your salary income.
• If the employer has made a mistake, you should bring it to their attention so that they can immediately correct it.
• Once the employer has made the necessary corrections by filing a new TDS return, you must check that the details are right to avoid another discrepancy.
• If you receive a notice from the tax authorities regarding a tax credit mismatch, you can respond to it online using the income tax department’s e-filing portal.