Form 26AS is an annual tax statement issued by the Income Tax Department under Section 203AA read with Rule 31AB of the Income Tax Act 1961. The statement is inclined to show details of all tax-related information including TDS deductions, TCS collected from the assessee, tax refunds available within a financial year.
Form 26AS is issued to the assessee disclosing details for tax deductions and collections with the relevant tax sections and consolidates them under a single form for the assessee.
In easy terms, Form 26AS is a consolidated statement of all tax-related affairs of an assessee within a financial year in which information about the amount of tax deducted, the section under which was tax deducted, information about the tax deductor, the tax deposited, the tax liability to be deposited is mentioned.
Uses of Form 26AS
- It serves as a verifying statement for all tax deductions and simultaneous deposits which are to be reported to the tax department.
- It is used to report omissions and/or errors in TDS values, comparing them with the TDS certificates issued by the deductor before filing of Income Tax Return by the assessee.
- For example, in some cases, the TDS deducted for sale of immovable property and not known to the assessee thus, can be known, and accordingly, the claim for such deduction can be made in ITR.
How to obtain Form 26AS?
Form 26AS can be obtained from the tax department as follows:
- Login into the Income Tax e-filing portal with ID and password credentials.
- Clicking on My Account > View Form 26AS. Clicking on “Confirm” which will redirect to Traces Portal.
- Clicking on “View Tax Credit Form”, once a popup comes to click on I Agree and Proceed.
- Select relevant AY to be downloaded.
- Entering the required assessment year and click on “View/Download”.
- Download in HTML option and download the relevant form in PDF format.
Bifurcation of Information in Form 26AS
Form 26AS has been bifurcated with the tax information under the following parts :
- Part A which specifies for the TDS amount deducted/deposited, the tax assessment year, amount of payment made as per TDS rules.
- Part B which specifies for the amount of TCS collected by the counterparty, deposited to the government.
- Part C which specifies for all the information regarding taxes paid by an individual including details of advance tax, self-assessment tax, and also the challan that was used to pay the tax.
- Part D contains information regarding any refund plus interest (if any) paid by the IT Department as well as the Assessment Year for which the tax was refunded.
The discrepancy in FORM 26AS
There might arise a situation where there is a mismatch in the TDS deducted /TCS amount collected or the amount of tax computed by the assessee. This can either be due to reasons as follows:
- Non-furnishing of TDS return by the deductor;
- Deduction of the wrong amount; or
- Deduction of TDS with incorrect PAN number;
In such cases, it is recommended to approach the deductor and request him to reconfirm to TDS submissions or values computed while filing TDS Returns.
In case the deductor refuses to make adjustments, the assessee can approach the tax office of his jurisdiction.
Budget 2020 Sneak Peek for Form 26AS
With inclined provisions of the Optional Income Tax Filing scheme, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also provided for simplification in tax Information through the introduction of a new Annual Information Statement (AIS) through Clause 90 in the Finance Bill 2020 which will be replacing the existing Form 26AS.
With the introduction of the New Section 285BB in the Income Tax Act, the tax Form 26AS will be replaced by a new Annual Information Statement, which will consolidate information about all tax deductions from all sources and all financial transactions in a single statement including mutual fund transactions, property transactions, etc.
The said section introducing a new Annual Information Statement will be enforced from 1st June 2020 replacing Form 26AS.
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