However, did you know that you can still file your ITR on the basis of your ITR? Form 26AS and Annual Information Statement (AIS)? That’s right, you can file your ITR even if you do not have Form 16 or other TDS certificates.
Dr. Suresh Surana, Founder, RSM India – A Tax Consulting Group says, “A person can file ITR on the basis of Form 26AS, AIS as well as details of transactions done during the financial year. It is pertinent to note that TDS certificates are not pre-requisites for filing ITR but are secondary sources for the taxpayer to reconcile his income as well as TDS deducted during the year.Each individual taxpayer is thoroughly required to maintain the details of the financial transactions conducted during the year and file your tax return accordingly.”
Form 26AS is a tax passbook containing details of tax deducted on your income, self-assessment tax and advance tax paid by you. Similarly, AIS is an extension of Form 26AS. It contains the details of financial transactions carried out by an individual, whether tax has been deducted on that income or not.
It is advised for taxpayers to cross-check Form 16/Form 16A and TDS certificates like Form 26AS and AIS. This helps the taxpayer to ensure that the tax collected from your income is also deposited with the government.
However, in the absence of TDS certificates, one can check the tax amount mentioned in his Form 26AS from the net amount deposited in your bank account. Add those two up and it should match the gross amount mentioned in your AIS. If these figures match then you can easily file your ITR. In case of a mismatch, you should approach the tax deductor on your income as well as raise it as an error in AIS with the Income Tax Department.
Surana says, “While the responsibility of deducting tax on salary and providing TDS certificate is on the employer or in other cases on the deductor, a person is required to calculate and pay taxes on his income and file income tax return, Even if the employer fails to submit/issue Form 16/16A, provided his income under all heads including salary exceeds the basic exemption limit.”
Steps to file ITR using Form 26AS and AIS
CA Ruchika Bhagat, MD, Neeraj Bhagat & Co-Chartered Accountant Firm explains what steps a person can take to file ITR if Form 16 / Form 16A and other relevant documents are missing. The steps are as follows:
Step 1: Download Form 26AS and AIS from the new income tax portal. These documents will give the details of your income on which tax was deducted.
Step 2: To know the complete division of salary income as mandated under ITR Form, you can login to the new Income Tax Portal and select ITR-1 Form. The complete break-up will help you fill in the details mentioned in the ITR form.
Step 3: Details of other financial transactions like sale of property, interest income etc. can be accessed from AIS. It may happen that some information is not reflected in the AIS like post office savings interest, indexed cost for capital gains, any other income etc. Thus, you need to cross-check the information from your bank passbook and Form 26AS to be sure. All financial transactions are reported. Missing any information can lead to under-reporting of income and therefore attract an income tax notice.
Other things to note
It is important to note that AIS is a new document. The statement was launched in November 2021 and is an extension of Form 26AS. AIS provides a comprehensive view of the information available to the Income Tax Department through various sources relating to the taxpayer.
In a press release issued during the launch in 2021, the Income Tax Department asked taxpayers to download and check their AIS and inform them if there is any mistake. If the error is not rectified, you may be issued an income tax notice.
Several tax experts have pointed out that errors are being noticed in their AIS. Some common errors are duplication of certain entries like capital gains etc., an incorrect amount reflected in the AIS, information not related to the taxpayer or is of a different year etc.
Thus, one must cross-check the financial transactions in AIS with other documents like bank passbook, mutual fund statement, Form 26AS etc.