FORM 26AS –INCOME TAX
Form 26AS is an essential document which all the employed individuals must check before filing their ITR. Income tax 26AS form is an document, important for the taxpayers as it allows them to check the data or entries appearing in the form are correct and belong to them which must be corrected in case of any mismatch before filing of ITR.
Form 26A can be downloaded by clicking of the given link here.
What is form 26AS?
Form 26AS is basically a consolidated tax statement for the whole financial year which includes all the details of the various taxes already paid or taxes deducted at source. One can have access to this form for the details of the income on which the taxes have been deducted or have been already paid by the employer to the government from the income tax website using their PAN (Permanent Account Number).
Checking of Form is important before filing income tax returns (ITR). In case that the transactions in the ITR is not in sync with Form 26AS, the income tax department may issue a notice to seek explanation for such discrepancies in the figures of income or TDS appearing in Form 26AS and income tax return. Hence a taxpayer must ensure that the income tax return is in sync with form.
FORM 26AS IN DETAIL
Details of all the deductions
Form 26AS contains the details of all the deduction such as their names and tax deduction account number (TAN).
Details of taxes paid and refund
Income tax form 26AS contains the details of the taxes paid and also contains details of any tax refunds that have been received during the relevant financial year.
Details of TDS on sale of immovable property
On purchasing an immovable property the tax should be deducted at source from the consideration paid to the seller of the property and the seller must also show the details of the tax deducted at source by the purchaser while making payment in that financial year.
Details of TDS on rent of property
A resident Indian receiving rent exceeding Rs. 50,000 per month from an individual, must show the details of the tax deducted at source by the payer in income tax form 26AS. The payer is required to deduct tax at source from such rent before making the payment to the landlord of that property.
Details of your high value transactions
High value transactions made through banking and financial institutions are also reported in the income tax form 26AS based on Annual Information Return (‘AIR’) filed by these banking and financial institutions. For example, purchase of high value mutual funds, immovable property, high-value corporate bonds etc are also reflected in the Form.
Details of advance tax paid
In case of tax paid in advance during a financial year, the same shall also reflect in the form 26AS.
DOWNLOADING FORM 26AS
Income tax form 26AS can be downloaded by:
- Login in to income tax filing account on the Income Tax department’s e-filing website https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.
- Through net banking facility provided by the banks.
E-FILING WEBSITE
Step 1: Login to the e-filing portal of the official website of income-tax at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in, or register with the portal.
Step 2: Click on “My Account/View Form 26AS”, under my account.
Step 3: Next click on confirm, the taxpayer will be redirected to the Traces website.
Step 4: here agree to the terms of usage of Form 16/Form 16A and click on ‘proceed’ button.
Step 5: Click on “View Tax Credit (Form 26AS)” to view the returns which are yet to be verified.
Step 6: Choose the relevant assessment year.
Step 7: The taxpayer will be prompted for a password, which will be the Date of Birth of the taxpayer.
HTLM view can be selected to see the form. This will help in verification of any tax deductions that has to be reported or taken into account during the filing of ITR.
NET BANKING
The net-banking facility in the banking sector has paved way for a digital banking and has simplified the life of the customer. Taxpayers can view income tax 26AS form through internet banking, provided that the bank account is authorized to perform this function and PAN is mapped with the particular account. The below mentioned banks allow the viewing of form:
Axis Bank
Bank of Baroda
City Union Banks
Indian Overseas Bank
Karnataka Bank
State Bank of Mysore
The Federal Bank Limited
Union Bank of India
Bank of India
Citibank
ICICI Bank
Indian bank
Oriental Bank of Commerce
State Bank of Travancore
The Saraswat Co-operative Bank Limited
Bank of Maharashtra
Corporation Bank
IDBI Bank
Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
State Bank of India
State Bank of Patiala
UCO Bank
The procedure to view/download the Form remains the same, except for the process of logging in to net-banking. The viewer will be redirected to the e-filing portal, whereby the user needs to follow the same procedures as described above.
Hence, income tax 26AS form is a passbook which consolidates or captures all the taxes already paid by the taxpayer by way of deductions or otherwise or the taxes deducted at source making it convenient for the taxpayer to claim the credit of taxes already paid.