Why it is important to check Form 26AS before filing Income Tax Return

There is a great need and importance of thorough checking of Form 26AS before filing Income Tax Return, as it is an Annual tax statement which provide the details of tax paid, tax deducted or collected at source as the case may be of the respected assesse. Assesse has to mandatorily disclose the corresponding income in his ITR which is reflecting in the Form 26AS against which TDS/TCS has been made. It acts as a statement which provides various details like as follows;

1). TDS/TCS Details of the Assesse: Form 26AS shows the details of tax deducted by any person or entity i.e. deductor in Part A under various sections like 194A, 194C etc. or tax collected at source u/s 206C series in Part B.

2). Details of high volume transactions in Part E like if any assesse has been engaged in any transaction which involved a huge amount like purchase or sale of immovable property above the transaction value of 30,00,000 INR.

3). Details of Tax paid by the assesse in Part C: Advance tax or self-assessment tax paid by the assesse during the relevant financial year. Also if any tax paid by the assesse for reasons other mentioned above like tax on regular assessment u/s 143 or in pursuance of demand notice issued u/s 156.

4). Income tax Refund in Part D: If any amount which is refundable by the department is reflected in the Form 26AS, it is important to note that if any refund which is provided by the department, then interest will be also be a part of that refund i.e. interest on income tax refund which is separately reflected in the row which should be taken into account while filing ITR otherwise it will lead to intimation u/s 143(1) for correction later on, as such interest is taxable under the head “IFOS”.

Form 26AS can also be termed as annual tax credit statement which reflects how much tax credit is accumulated during the financial year which can be used to pay taxes at the time of filing ITR.

Apart from the above, one should always check whether the income reflecting in the form is correct and best to the knowledge of assesse, as it can create problems latter on if assesse fails to show the income which is reflecting in the Form 26AS and denies the same that income does not belong to him, sometimes it happen that TDS has been made wrongly due to wrong furnishing of PAN details, therefore one should look after that Form 26AS reflects true and correct info about income and tax details.

Conclusion: At last, would like to conclude that Form 26AS is the most important statement while filing an ITR, one should always match the details with it for avoiding any notices and intimations from the department.