When must Form 16 be completed in order to file an income tax return?
When must Form 16 be completed in order to file an income tax return?
An important part of submitting an income tax return is Form 16. The Form-16 is provided to you by your employer. Form 16 is typically distributed to all workers by June 15. You can inquire with the employer if you have not yet received Form-16.
The employee’s wage is mentioned on Form 16, together with any exemptions and deductions that were taken on his behalf. Additionally, it includes details on the Tax Deducted at Source that the Employer withholds from the Salary. According to section 203 of the Income Tax Act, the employer must provide the employee with a Form-16. When filing the return online, compare the information provided in Form-16 with the pre-field information on the ITR form. Following that, information from Form-16 is taken and entered into the ITR form in offline mode.
Two pieces make up Form-16. both Parts A and B. Along with the TAN number of the employer, Part-A also includes the names, addresses, and PANs of the employer and the employee. There are specifics about the pay that was paid and the TDS that was applied to it. Tax withholdings, or TDS, are deposited with the government.
The whole information on salary, exemptions, deductions, and taxes is contained in Part-B of Form-16. Gross salary, exemptions such as the HRA under Section 10, the standard deduction under Section 16, and tax under Chapter VI-A are all included in this.
After receiving Form 16, you must first verify your PAN number. The tax withheld from your salary won’t show up in your Form 26AS if the PAN number on your Form 16 is incorrect. You won’t be able to claim the adjusted TDS when filing your income tax return in this situation.
The second thing you must verify on Form 16 is whether or not all of the allowances you claimed were exempt in front of the employer. House Rent Allowance (HRA) and Leave Travel Assistance (LTA) are the two main benefits offered by these allowances. Observe that Form 16 correctly includes deductions as well. Crosschecking of the company name, address, and TAN is required.
You must match the tax deduction listed on Form 26AS and the Annual Information Statement (AIS) with the TDS deducted on Form 16. Furthermore, you won’t be allowed to make any adjustments if any TDS appears on your Form 16 but not on Form 26AS.
An example of a tax passbook is Form 26AS. It includes details on all the taxes that were deposited with PAN. Along with the tax withheld by the bank and the employer, there is also information concerning advance tax and self-assessment tax.
The e-filing portal for the Income Tax Department is available at https://eportal.incometax.gov.in/, where you can download Form 26AS. You must select the ‘e-file’ option after logging into the portal. You will find the option to see Form 26AS under the ‘Income Tax Return’ option. It can be clicked on to download Form 26AS. Similarly, AIS may be accessed via the AIS app or Income Tax website.
Many times, Form 16 does not show all of the employee’s deductions. More TDS is taken out as a result. The main cause of this is that, when the employer requests the employee’s investment information, the employee occasionally forgets to provide information about certain deductions or invests after submitting the investment proof. Form-16 does not include information about these investments in its detail. When submitting an income tax return, a deduction for these investments may be made in this circumstance.
Only under the previous tax system may one claim an exemption or deduction.
If you have changed occupations within a fiscal year, Form-16 must be obtained from both your previous and current employers.
The 31st of July typically marks the deadline for filing the return. Before then, the return must be submitted, or a fine of Rs 5,000 will be assessed.
When filing a return at the last minute, there is a greater chance for error. In this case, the ITR needs to be completed promptly.
