Source: The Economic Times
What
you must check in your TDS certificates, Form26 AS & why they should match
TDS
certificates should be
downloaded only from TRACES
You
should ensure that TDS certificates (Form 16/16A) issued to you are downloaded
only from TRACES (TDS Reconciliation
Analysis and Correction Enabling System of the Income tax department).
Certificates downloaded from TRACES are in a specific format. A form downloaded
from TRACES would bear a 7 character alphabet unique certificate number and it
will also have a TDSCPS logo on the left side and a national emblem on the
right side at the top. This certificate would provide the details of the income
paid to you and also the tax deducted from that income by the payer and whether
the same has been deposited by him with the government. See below for a sample
of how a valid TDS certificate in Form 16 or Form 16A should look.
Digital
signature should be verified.
In
case of digitally signed certificates check that
the signature is verified i.e. has a check mark across it. An unverified
signature will bear a question mark over the signature instead of the check
mark.
Must check
details on the TDS certificate
Must
check details on the TDS certificate Your name, PAN,
Deductor's TAN, amount paid to you, TDS amount should be correctly reflected on
the TDS certificate.
What is Form26AS and how to get it
An
annual tax credit statement is generated by the income tax department for a person
subjected to TDS (deductee) in Form 26AS. The statement provides details such
as name of the deductee, PAN of deductee, details of deductor, the TDS amount,
the amount of TDS deposited with the Government by the deductor etc. The user
can download the statement from the income tax efiling website. The downloaded
statement is password protected and the password to open the file is the Date
of birth of the user which he would have entered when registering with the
income tax efiling site. This statement is linked to your PAN and contains
details of all your TDS by employers as well as others (e.g. banks etc).
The
link to download Form 26AS from TRACES can be found after logging into your account
on the income tax efiling site.
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/eFiling/UserLogin/LoginHome.html?nextPage=taxCred
It
can also be downloaded via your net banking account provided that your bank
provides the efiling login facility. The list of banks providing this facility
is available at: http://contents.tdscpc.gov.in/en/netbanking.html
Cross check the
TDS certificate figures with Form 26AS
You
can verify whether your TDS as shown in the TDS certificate received from the
deductor has actually been received by the government or not by comparing with
the Form 26AS. It is the duty of a taxpayer to verify whether the deductor has
deducted tax on each transaction on which it was supposed to be deducted. He
must also check that the TDS mentioned in form 16/16A is reflecting in Form
26AS. In case the TDS shown in your TDS certificate is not reflecting in your
Form 26AS it would imply that although the deductor has deducted the tax on
your behalf but the TDS has not been deposited / has not reached the income tax
department. In case of any discrepancy between the TDS certificates and Form
26AS inform your deductor and ask for the reasons for this discrepancy and get
it corrected. A possible reason behind the mismatch can be because your PAN has
been incorrectly entered in the records of the deductor. In case the deductor
has not deducted the tax on your behalf, then it is your responsibility to
remind the deductor to deduct tax on your behalf and deposit the same with
government.
Your
form 26AS will also reflect any advance/regular/ self assessment tax that you
pay.
Following
details would also be available in your Form 26AS in case applicable:
Details
of tax deducted on your behalf by deductors
Details
of tax collected on your behalf by collectors
Details
of tax deducted on sale of Immovable Property
Refund
received during the financial year by you
Details
of your transactions in Mutual Fund, Shares and Bonds,
etc. (as reported by AIR filer)
TDS
Defaults related to processing of Statements
A
person deducting tax on account of buying an immovable property needs to submit
TDS certificate to the seller in Form 16B. Link to download Form 16B (Tutorial)
http://contents.tdscpc.gov.in/en/downloadfrom16betutorial.html
According
to practicing chartered accountants, the income tax department normally cross
checks the taxes claimed as TDS or as paid by you in your return with those
showing in Form 26AS. "Therefore, in case certain taxes claimed as
deducted or paid by you in your return are not reflected in the Form 26AS then
you may get a notice from the tax department when it processes your
return" says Chartered Accountant Anil Kapur, Partner, AVAN & Associates.
Why you need TDS
certificates when Form 26AS provides all information
One
can gather all information related to TDS in Form 26AS which is sufficient to
file one's return. This might make you doubt the importance of TDS certificates
but the rationale behind introducing Form 26AS is to enable the taxpayer to
cross check the details mentioned in his/her TDS certificates with those
mentioned in Form 26AS and create transparency. TDS certificates are important
because these certificates and the Form 26AS are a cross check for each other in
case there is a mismatch you can try to get the relevant document corrected.
Without the TDS certificate you would not get to know if there was a mismatch.
Further,
if your return sails through the IT department's eprocessing system without a
hitch then your TDS certificates may not be required to be shown/submitted but
in case your return gets picked up for scrutiny then you are likely to need
your TDS certificates to show to the IT department. Also, in case a TDS is not
reflecting in the Form 26AS then again you would need the certificate to prove
that tax was actually deducted. "In case of salaried persons, Form 26AS in
itself is not sufficient to file the return since it does not show the breakup
of your income and details of deductions claimed under section 80C to 80U which
are available in Form 16" Kapur adds.
Why you must
provide PAN to the deductor
It
is the duty of the assessee/deductee to provide his PAN to the deductor or else
the deductor will deduct his tax at a higher rate (generally 20%). Also, if PAN
is not provided the TDS will not reflect in your Form 26AS which is linked to
your PAN. This is because the deductor will not know which PAN to assign the
TDS to while uploading data in the income tax site.
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