Form 26AS – What is Form 26AS and How To Download Form 26AS?

What is Form 26AS?

Form 26AS is also known as Annual Consolidated Tax Statement and provides a record of all the tax-related information of the taxpayer annually. It includes all taxes that have been paid by or on the behalf of the taxpayer, by the deductor (could be the employer, bank etc.) to the Government treasury. 

One can access form 26AS from the income tax website by using their User ID which is also their PAN (Permanent Account Number). 

Understanding Form 26AS

When we say that Form 26AS contains all tax related information of the taxpayer, we really mean all of it. Form 26AS contains the following details:

1. Details of Annual Information Report transactions.
   
   
2. Details of all the tax collected by the tax collectors on behalf of the taxpayer.
   
   
3. Tax deducted by the deductor (could be the employer, bank etc.) on behalf of the taxpayer  and also, the details of tax deducted on your income.
   
   
4. Advance tax, self-assessment tax, and regular assessment tax deposited by PAN holders/taxpayers.
   
   
5. Details of refund received by you during the financial year.
   
   
6. Details of the High-value Transactions in respect of shares, mutual fund etc.

Structure of Form 26AS

Form 26AS is a very elaborate document with multiple parts. Here’s a list of sub-parts of Form 26AS: 

Form 26AS Part A – Details of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS)

Form 26AS Part A consists of details of TDS deducted from your salary, interest earned, pension income and prize winnings etc. Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number (TAN) of the deductor and the amount of TDS deducted and deposited are also mentioned. Remember that this information is provided on a quarterly basis.

Form 26AS Part A1 – Details of TDS for Form 15G/ Form 15H

Form 26AS Part A1 consists of income details where no TDS has been deducted because the taxpayer submitted Form 15G or Form 15H. One can use this part to verify the status of TDS deduction if you have submitted Form 15G or Form 15H. Note that if you have not submitted Form 15G or Form 15H then this section of the form will show ‘No transactions present’.

Form 26AS Part A2: Details of TDS on the sale of any Immovable Property under Section 194(IA) (for the seller of the property)

Form 26AS Part A2 is applicable only in case if you have sold the property during the year where TDS was deducted from your receipt. One can find all the suitable entries on Details of Tax Deducted at Source on sale a of Immovable Property u/s 194(IA) (For the seller of Property)

 Form 26AS Part B – Details of Tax Collected at Source 

Form 26AS Part B contains details of the (TCS) tax collected at source by the goods seller. Note that you will find the entries present here, only in case you are a seller and tax is collected by you.

Form 26AS Part C – Details of Tax Paid (Other than TDS or TCS)

Form 26AS Part C consists of any tax deposited by the taxpayer. All that as well as the details of advance tax and self- assessment tax are also present. Additionally, it also contains details of the challan through which the tax was deposited.

Form 26AS Part D – Details of Paid Refund

Form 26AS Part D consists of the information regarding your refund. It provides information of an assessment year to which the refund pertains, along with the mode of payment, the amount paid, interest paid and the date of payment.

Form 26AS Part E – Details of AIR Transaction

Form 26AS Part E contains details of AIR Transactions. Annual Information Return (AIR) are high value transactions. Banks and financial institutions are supposed to report such high-value transactions to the tax authorities. Also, mutual fund purchases of high value, property purchases, and high-value corporate bonds are all reported in this case.

Form 26AS Part F: Details of Tax Deducted on Sale of Immovable Property u/s 194IA (For Buyer of Property)

In case you have bought a property, it is vital that you deduct TDS before making payment to the seller. And Part F section of Form 26AS contains details of TDS deducted & deposited by you.

Form 26AS Part G: TDS Defaults*(Processing of Defaults)

In case there are any defaults related to the processing of statements, they are mentioned here. They do not include demands raised by assessing officers.

Where to Download Form 26AS?

You can download Form 26AS from two places – 

1. Income Tax Website via. TRACES portal
2. Your bank’s website via. Net Banking

How to Download Form 26AS?

In order to view/download Form 26AS, you need to have your income tax website user id which is also your PAN or have the PAN linked to your net banking account. Here are the two ways to download Form 26AS:

a) Income Tax Website 

1. Open Income Tax e-Filing Website https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home to download Form 26AS.
   
   
2. Enter your PAN number as User ID, password and the captcha code. After that, click on LOGIN.
   
   
3. After logging into your account, a new screen will appear. Click on the ‘My Account’ option on the top tab and then, open ‘View Form 26AS’ in the drop down menu.
   
   
4. Click on ‘Confirm’ and you will be redirected to the TRACES website.
   
   
5. Click on ‘I agree to the usage and acceptance of Form 16 / Form 16A’ generated from TRACES and click on ‘Proceed’.
   
   
6. Click on ‘View Tax Credit (Form 26AS)’ to view your Form 26AS.
   
   
7. Select the Assessment Year and the format (HTML/Text) in which you want to see the Form 26AS. You can also download the form in PDF format. Post selection, click on button ‘View/Download’.
   
   
8. To open the document you will be required to enter a password. The password is your DOB in DD/MM/YYYY format. For example: If your date of birth is 15th April, 1985 then your password would be 15041985.

b) Net Banking 

Net Banking facility is available to a PAN holder having a net banking account with any authorized bank. It is a free facility, however, you can view your Form 26AS only if your PAN number is linked to that particular account. List of banks registered with NSDL (National Securities Depository Limited) for providing a view of Form 26AS are as below:

• Axis Bank Limited
• Bank of India
• Bank of Maharashtra
• Bank of Baroda
• Citibank N.A.
• Corporation Bank
• City Union Bank Limited
• ICICI Bank Limited
• IDBI Bank Limited
• Indian Overseas Bank
• Indian Bank
• Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
• Karnataka Bank
• Oriental Bank of Commerce
• State Bank of India
• State Bank of Mysore
• State Bank of Travancore
• State Bank of Patiala
• The Federal Bank Limited
• The Saraswat Co-operative Bank Limited
• UCO Bank
• Union Bank of India

View Form 26AS from PAN Number

A taxpayer can easily view his/her Form 26AS by logging on to the Income Tax Department’s E-filing portal and entering their User ID (which is their PAN number) and password. The steps for this are the same as mentioned in the above section.

1. Open Income Tax e-Filing Website https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home to download Form 26AS.
   
   
2. Enter your PAN number as User ID, password and the captcha code. After that, click on LOGIN.
   
   
3. After logging into your account, a new screen will appear. Click on the ‘My Account’ option on the top tab and then, click on ‘View Form 26AS’ in the drop down menu.
   
   
4. Click on ‘Confirm’ and you will be redirected to the TRACES website.
   
   
5. Click on ‘I agree to the usage and acceptance of Form 16 / Form 16A’ generated from TRACES and click on ‘Proceed’.
   
   
6. Click on ‘View Tax Credit (Form 26AS)’ to view your Form 26AS.
   
   
7. Select the Assessment Year and the format (HTML/Text) in which you want to see the Form 26AS. You can also download the form in PDF format. Post selection, click on button ‘View/Download’.
   
   
8. To open the document you will be required to enter a password. The password is your DOB in DD/MM/YYYY format. For example: If your date of birth is 15th April, 1985 then your password would be 15041985.

Why do we need Form 26AS?

Form 26AS tends to serve both the citizen and the government and helps both in multiple ways:

1. Form 26AS helps check if the deductor has accurately filed the TDS statement or the collector has accurately filed the TCS giving details of the tax deducted or collected on your behalf.
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3. It enables the taxpayer to check that the tax deducted or collected by the deductor or collector respectively has been deposited to the account of the government on time.

What are the important details in Form 26AS?

Being the annual consolidated tax credit statement, Form 26AS helps us in verifying the tax credits of the year. These tax credits include details of various taxes deducted on your income at source (TDS), tax collected at source (TCS), advance-tax and self-assessment tax. These tax credits help in the calculation of income tax which is necessary before filing the income tax return. As a taxpayer, one is no longer required to attach a photocopy of the TDS certificate along with Income Tax Return as long as he or she has Form 26AS. 

In fact, the Income Tax Department will allow a taxpayer to claim the credit of taxes as reflected in his or her Form 26AS if no other payments are due from him or her as income tax (or interest thereon) payable to the Government.