Check status of deducted tax online

Gone are the days where taxpayers would have to wait till the end of the financial year to receive their withholding tax certificates/Form 16s in the physical form. Now the income tax department has put in place a facility to enable taxpayers to view their tax credits online or through the internet.

The consolidated annual tax statement in Form 26AS is now available to PAN holders. The endeavour is to streamline and synchronise the tax paid/deposited under each PAN and identify and resolve discrepancies, if any, at an early stage. Discrepancies could arise due to reasons like incorrectly quoted PAN/non-filing of TDS returns/non-deposit/lower deposit of taxes by the deductor, and can be identified and resolved at an early stage.

The form is divided into three parts: Parts A and B include details of taxes deducted/collected at source (TDS/TCS) along with the details of the date on which payment was made, tax was deducted and deposited in the bank. Part C displays details of income tax directly paid by the taxpayer like advance tax/self assessment tax/regular assessment tax, etc, deposited in the bank by the taxpayer (PAN holder).

The procedure for registration to view the form online on the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) website is very simple. One should log on to the website tin-nsdl.com and register to view tax credit (Form 26 AS). Fill in the PAN number and contact details and choose a user ID and password and on submission, an acknowledgment number is generated. Visit any TIN-FC (facilitation centre) along with the acknowledgment number, original PAN card and a copy of the PAN card. Alternatively, you can choose to have an TIN-FC official visit your office or residence to verify the PAN. Generally, the user ID is activated within 24 hours of PAN verification and you can then login to your ID on the website tin-nsdl.com and view all your tax credits (TDS, TCS, advance tax/self assessment/tax paid) for a financial year.

This facility is available to a taxpayer having a net banking account with any of the authorised banks. The list of authorised banks is available on the TIN website and form 26 AS can be viewed only if the PAN is mapped to the bank account. Taxpayers registered with the website of the income tax department for e-filing of their tax returns can also view form 26AS by clicking on “View Tax Credit Statement (From 26AS)” in the “My Account” section. The facility to view tax credit online should enable taxpayers to crosscheck that taxes deducted at source from their income/directly paid by him. or her are correctly recorded by the income tax department.

by-PARIZAD SIRWALLA

The author is ED (tax), KPMG

Source: Financial Express