How to File Tax Returns when you have multiple Form 16?

Multiple Form 16 is a Certificate of deduction of tax at source under Section 203 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. It contains the details regarding-

In simple words we could say details of tax deducted by the employer on behalf of an employee. Therefore every salaried person should obtain Form 16 from the employer before the end of a financial year. At times situation arises when a person holds multiple Form-16 like:

And in such situations be aware of the tax liability that may arise because then you might end up with multiple Form 16.When it comes to Income Tax Return filing, the process gets a little bit more complicated but it’s actually quite simple to file the IT return when someone holds multiple Form-16.

An employee must hold separate Form 16 from all his employers. Let us take an overview of the above-stated situations and how to deal with it while filing IT return:

Multiple Form 16 arising due to switching jobs – In this situation when a person has switched over jobs in the same financial year and gets multiple Form 16, then at the time of filing tax return he should disclose the details of previous Form-16s to the new employer to calculate the tax liability considering the previous job details.

And if the person wants to maintain confidentiality of the same then he can state his consolidated income of all the Form-16 at the time of filing IT return.

Multiple Form 16 arising due to several jobs at the same time – If a person is engaged into a number of jobs at the same time, in that case he can simply file his consolidated income at the time of filing IT Return.

Following things must be taken care of while filing IT Return with multiple Form 16

  • Details of all the employers such as PAN, TAN, Name & Address should be mentioned for each of the employer in the tax return.
  • Salary earned from all the employers during a financial year should be included in the tax return as salary is always taxable.
  • Form 26AS must be thoroughly traced as it carries details of TDS deducted by each of the employer. Keep in mind that the credit of TDS deducted by all the employers must be taken against total taxes due.
  • Benefit of tax deductions allowed under Section 80 should be availed because some people leave their jobs at such times when their employers may not have allowed you the deduction. And you are left with no record of proof which could help you avail the deduction while filing Tax return.
  • Tax due can be seen while filing tax return when your new employer does not know about the income you earned in the previous job and his tax computation results into inaccuracy. The reason behind is the minimum limit which is exempt and have been allowed by all your employers.