Being a taxpayer has it’s own set of responsibilities such as keeping a book of account maintained, filling our tax returns on time, claiming tax credit etc. But wouldn’t it be easy for a taxpayer if he has all the information and data related to their tax returns at one place, which can be viewed at any time by the taxpayer for claiming tax credit and fulfilling other tax-related responsibilities! Actually there is, i.e. Form 26AS.
Form 26AS is a such facility through which a taxpayer can avail all the information related to his tax return filing irrespective of the way whether he has paid his taxes on his own or deducted by his employer and claim tax credit accordingly.
In this article, we will look at Income Tax Form 26AS, what it is and how it is important for the taxpayer!
What is Form 26AS?
It is an annual consolidated tax statement of a particular taxpayer in which all the details such as his income, taxes paid, deductor details etc. are mentioned.
It is available for the particular taxpayer to be viewed when needed such as for tax credit on the Income Tax Department Website.
Before proceeding further let us first know what are the information available in this form.
Information accessible through Form 26AS statement: –
- Details of your income which is taxable.
- Total taxes deducted on your income by your employer or deductor or collector.
- Or, total taxes you have paid on your income, as the case may be.
- Details of your deductor such as his TAN and PAN.
- Total tax credit you have received in a financial year.
- Details of AIR transactions which contains details of high-value transactions such as related to mutual funds and stocks etc.
- Details of taxes paid in advance by the taxpayer.
Form 26AS can be a very lengthy document as it contains a lot of information related to taxes paid at other instances by the taxpayer. We will discuss the same in the next topic.
Simplifying Form 26AS
For the purpose of easy understanding, this form is further categorised into the different parts of transaction that takes place in a financial year on which tax is levied upon. They are –
- Part A: – Details of TDS i.e. Tax Deducted at Source. This is further categorised into two parts. They are –
- Details of TDS under form 15G or form 15H
- Details of TDS on sale of immovable property such as houses, flats etc. (Under section 194IA of Income Tax Act)(This one is for seller of property).
- Part B: – Details of TDS for the seller of goods.
- Part C: – Details of other taxes paid(with the exception of TDS/TCS).
- Part D: – Details of Tax Credit.
- Part E: – Details of AIR transaction(High-value transaction).
- Part F: – Details of TDS on sale of immovable property(This one is for the buyer of immovable property)(under section 194IA of the Income Tax Act).
- Part G: – Details of TDS defaults(which is under processing)
Below is the further explanation of all the above parts.
Part A – Details of TDS
- This section contains details of a taxpayer’s taxable income and the amount of taxes deducted from it.
- Here, income includes salary, income from interest earning, pension earning, prize earnings etc.
- Apart from these, details of deductor is also available in this section. Details such as his TAN, and the amount of tax he deducted etc.
- All these information is provided on quarterly basis.
This part is further categorised. They are –
Details of TDS under Form 15G or Form 15H
- Here details of those income on which TDS is not applicable are available.
- Such as earnings from interest earned on a deposit in a bank.
- As not all incomes are taxable under the Income Tax Act, this is also one of the exception.
- Those who submit Form 15G/H beforehand to the banks and are eligible for tax exemption, are not charged any TDS by the banks on their income from interest.
- If failed to submit Form 15G/H, then also the person can claim tax refund by applying to the Income Tax Dept.
- Form 15G is for those who is below the age of 60 years such as Hindu Undivided Family, trustee etc.
- Form 15H is for old age person who is above 60 years of age.
Details of TDS on sale of immovable property(For seller of property)
- Under this part, details of taxes deducted on the sale of property is available.
- This is as per the section 194IA of Income Tax Act.
- Not only taxes, but details related to property such as the value of the property is also mentioned.
- Details of buyer, who is also the deductor, is also available here. Means, all the relevant details are available in this part related to the sale of the property.
Part B – Details of TDS for seller of goods
- This part contains the details of taxes and taxable income from selling of goods.
- Seller of the goods deduct taxes on the value of the goods.
- Details of the value of goods as well as the taxes levied on them is available here.
Part C – Details of other taxes paid(with the exception of TDS/TCS)
- Under this part, details of taxes other than TDS or TCS which is paid by the taxpayer, is available to view.
- Mostly other taxes can be in the nature of advance tax which sometimes a taxpayer pay.
- Details of the same is available in this part of the form.
- Apart from this, self-assessment tax details are also mentioned in this part. Along with that related challah details is also available.
Part D – Details of Tax Credit
- All the information related to tax refund is available in this part of the form.
- Tax credit of a particular financial year and the details of invoices on which credit is issued is also mentioned in this section.
- Details such as mode of payment of tax refund and date of refund etc. can also be seen here.
Part E – Details of AIR transaction(High-value transaction)
- This part contains the details of all the high-value transaction that has taken place in a financial year by the taxpayer.
- High-value transaction are earnings from mutual funds, stocks, purchase of high value property, corporate bonds etc.
- Value of transaction and taxes applicable are reported in this section.
Part F – Details of TDS on sale of immovable property(fir the buyer of the property)
- In the part A, we discussed the details of seller of the immovable property.
- This part applies to the buyer of the immovable property.
- Details of value of the property and the applicable taxes are available in this part.
- As the buyer is also the deductor of taxes on seller’s part so all the tax details and taxable value of the property that he deducted, can be found in this part.
Part G – Details of TDS Defaults
- When the taxpayer who has deducted taxes from his employee or seller of the property, as the case may be, fails to remit the TDS amount to the Tax authorities, then he is said to be defaulted on TDS.
- So, then the Income Tax Dept. issues notices to the taxpayer for the same and the same is mentioned in this section for the taxpayer to see.
- So he can remit the taxes he collected with the Income Tax Dept.
- If there is no default on the part of taxpayer, this section will show “no transaction” or it will remain empty.
Let us now proceed to the next part of the topic i.e. how to access Form 26AS.
How to access or view Form 26AS?
Earlier the process to access this form was a bit cumbersome. But now it’s easy.
There are mainly two ways to access or download this form. We will discuss them one by one. For the first way, follow the steps below –
- Open the website of Income Tax Department here.
- On the homepage, at the left side of the portal, look for tab “View Form 26AS(Tax Credit)”. See the image below of the homepage for reference.
- Select the option. And proceed to the next page. On the next page, the income tax login 26AS portal is there.
- Every taxpayer gets their login details while filing their tax return.
- Registered taxpayer can login with their username and password.
- Those who are not registered can register on the same page.
- See the picture below for reference.
- All you need to do is fill in your username that you receive from Income Tax Dept. and then password and fill in captcha code in the “Enter Captcha” box. Captcha code can be seen on the login page.
- Mostly your PAN number is your username and your date of birth is your password. So fill those details in.
- Then select the “Login” tab. You will be on Form 26AS.
Alternate way to view form 26AS: –
There is one other way of downloading or viewing this form. If you internet banking facility of any authorised banks through which you have filed your income tax return, then you can also access this form through the net-banking facility of your bank. Steps are below –
- Just visit the net-banking page of your bank. List of authorised banks are below in this article.
- Login with your credentials and look for the tab “view your tax credit” or “view form 26AS(Tax Credit)”.
- Select them and you will be able to see the form.
- Link for the net-banking facility is also available on the Income Tax login portal page.
- Just look at the bottom of the login portal of the Income Tax website. You will find the “e-filing login through NetBanking” tab. Select it and you will be on net-banking page of your bank.
- See the picture below for reference.
How this Form 26AS is important?
This form is also known as Tax Credit form. So, in essence it is a document that helps the taxpayer to claim the tax credit.
It provides an annual consolidated statement of taxes, so a taxpayer can see the details of his every transaction so that he can verify all the details and claim tax credit if find himself to be eligible.
This 26AS statement also provides a taxpayer with an opportunity to verify all the details mentioned in this form with the acknowledgement slip or his books of account and if he finds any discrepancy than he should immediately approach the Income Tax Department for rectification.
For other purposes like checking default status on remitting taxes and others also, a taxpayer needs this statement.
Mostly all the information in the Form 26AS are updated on a quarterly basis barring few.
List of authorised banks through which Form 26AS can be seen or downloaded: –
They are mentioned below in alphabetical order.
- Axis Bank Limited
- Bank of Baroda
- Bank of India
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Citibank N.A.
- City Union Bank Limited
- Corporation Bank
- ICICI Bank Limited
- IDBI Bank Limited
- Indian Bank
- Indian Overseas Bank
- Karnataka Bank
- Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
- Oriental Bank of Commerce
- State Bank of India(All the associate banks included)
- The Federal Bank Limited
- The Saraswat Co-operative Bank Limited
- UCO Bank
- Union Bank of India
For any legal registration visit Company Vakil.
