Form 26AS is an annual information statement which shows various details including Tax Deducted / Collected at Source, Advance Tax / Self - Assessment Tax, Specified Financial Transactions Demand / Refund Pending / completed Proceedings for a taxpayer's PAN as per ITD's database.

A taxpayer may pay tax in any of the following forms:

• Tax Deducted at Source (TDS)
• Tax Collected at Source (TCS)
• Advance Tax or Self-Assessment Tax

The Income Tax Department maintains a database of the total tax paid by all taxpayers, which is called tax credit in the taxpayer's account. The ITD generally allows taxpayers to claim the credit of taxes as reflected in their Form 26AS.

Errors or omissions in your Form 26AS (Annual Information Statement) may happen due to several reasons, such as:

• Non-filing of TDS return by Deductor
• Non-payment of TDS by Deductor
• Quoting of wrong AY or wrong PAN (or no PAN)
• Incorrect challan details in the TDS returns submitted
• Challan details wrongly quoted in the TDS return by Deductor or in details uploaded by the bank

You can take the following action to correct the details in your Form 26AS:

1. Provide a correction statement (via NSDL website) for only those records that require correction.

2. In cases of a mistake made by the Deductor (e.g., your employer), you should contact the Deductor and request them to:

• File the TDS return if it is still pending
• Furnish a revised TDS return if they filed the return with incorrect details / wrong or no PAN
• If there is a mistake made by the bank (e.g., in tax amount, PAN), you should request the bank to rectify it in the challan details uploaded by the bank
• Especially in cases of tax amount being wrong, it is mandated that you get it corrected – else you will not get a tax credit for deductions that are not mentioned in Form 26AS.

Some of the common errors leading to mismatch between Form 26AS and Form 16 are as follows:

• Non-filing of TDS return by Deductor
• Wrong PAN number of the employee quoted by the Deductor.
• Wrong PAN / TAN of Deductor / AY quoted
• Wrong Challan Identification Number (CIN) of TDS payment quoted in TDS Return
• Omitted detail of TDS payment
• Challan-wise annexure in TDS Statement does not mention details of the employee (e.g., name or gender)
• False / Excess TDS amount claimed in the return

Compare the figures in Form 26AS with that of Form 16 and Form 16A. Mismatches between your Form 26AS and Form 16 or TDS certificates may lead to less refund or more taxes payable. If you find that any of the above details don't match:

• You need to inform the party responsible for deducting TDS from your income (i.e., your employer).
• The employer has to file a revised TDS Return. Ensure that the details are correct in the revised TDS return to avoid another mismatch.

Yes, you can file ITR-1 for the AY 2021-22 in case the following conditions are met:

• If you are a single or joint owner of a single property, you can file ITR-1 for AY 2021-22
• If you own more than one property, you can't file ITR-1 (even as a single owner)

To avoid issues while filing your return and getting your refund, ensure you do the following:

• Link Aadhaar and PAN.
• Pre-validate your bank account where you want to receive your refund.
• Choose the correct ITR before filing it; else filed return will be treated as defective and you will need to file a revised ITR using the correct form.
• File the return within the specified timelines.
• Verify your return and you can opt for e-Verification (recommended option – e-Verify Now) is the easiest way to verify your ITR.
• File the responses for the notices received from the ITD within the specified timelines.

For salaried individuals, advance tax is mostly taken care of through TDS by employers. But other forms of income such as interest on savings bank accounts, fixed deposits, rental income, bonds, or capital gains increase the tax liability. One's tax liability needs to be estimated beforehand. If tax amounts to more than ₹10,000/- per year, taxpayers need to pay advance tax in quarterly instalments (June, September, December and March).

Advance Tax: Advance Tax must be calculated as given below:

a) In case of all assessees (other than the eligible assessees as referred to in section 44AD and 44ADA of the Income Tax Act):

• At least to 15% On or before 15th June
• At least to 45% On or before 15th September
• At least to 75% On or before 15th December
• 100% On or before 15th March

b) In case of eligible assessee as referred to in section 44AD and 44ADA:

100% On or before 15th March

Any tax paid on or before 31st March will be treated as Advance Tax paid during the same FY. The deposit of Advance Tax is made through challan ITNS 280 by ticking the relevant column, i.e., Advance Tax. Self-Assessment Tax: After filling out your ITR form with the TDS and advance tax details (if paid), the system computes your income and checks whether tax is still payable. You need to pay it and then fill in the challan details in the return before submitting it.

Allowances are fixed periodic amounts, apart from salary, which are paid by an employer, e.g., conveyance allowance, travelling allowance, uniform allowance, etc. Allowances are considered income and will increase your gross total income on which you will be taxed. Allowances can be taxable, partially exempted, and fully exempted. Perquisites are benefits you receive because of your official position, and are over and above your salary or wage income. These perquisites can be taxable or non-taxable depending upon their nature.

No, not all donations qualify for 100% exemption from tax. The categories for tax deduction, based on whom you donated to (charitable institution, fund set up by Government, scientific research, etc.) are as follows:

1. Donations entitled for 100% deduction without qualifying limit
2. Donations entitled for 50% deduction without qualifying limit
3. Donations entitled for 100% deduction subject to qualifying limit
4. Donations entitled for 50% deduction subject to qualifying limit

You need to check the exemption limit on your donation receipt and claim deduction accordingly while filing your return.

No. e-Filing is the process of electronically submitting your Income Tax Return on the e-Filing portal and e-payment is the process of electronically paying tax.

Yes, you can re-submit return in case you have already filed your Income Tax Return and later discover that you have made a mistake. This is called a Revised Return. Your return has to be revised three months before the end of the relevant AY. For AY 2021-22, the due date for filing revised return is 31st December 2021.

No, you can only file Income Tax Return for one AY in the current financial year. Tax filing beyond the last one year is only possible when you receive a notice from the Income Tax Department.

In case you miss filing the ITR within the due date u/s 139(1), you can still file your Income Tax Return but you maybe required to pay a late filing fee of up to ₹5000/-. Additionally, you will also be required to pay interest on the tax liability (if any).

Yes, employers and banks deduct tax at source on salary and interest income respectively. You still need to disclose the income on which tax has been deducted and claim credit for TDS in the Income Tax Return.

Yes, any excess tax paid by you can be claimed as refund by filing your Income Tax Return. After your return is processed, ITD checks and accordingly accepts your refund claim, and then the amount is credited to your bank account. You will also get a message on your email ID registered on the e-Filing portal.

No. Rebate under section 87A is available only to an individual, hence, any person other than an individual cannot claim rebate under section 87A.

No. Rebate under section 87A is available only to an individual who is resident in India, hence, non-residents cannot claim rebate under section 87A.

Up to AY 2019-20, you can claim only one property as self-occupied property and other property will be deemed to be let-out. From AY 2020-21 onwards only, both the houses can be treated as self-occupied properties for residential purpose subject to fulfilment of specified conditions.

In this case, for the purpose of computation of income chargeable to tax under the head Income from House Property, such a property will be treated as let-out throughout the year and income will be computed accordingly. However, while computing the taxable income in case of such a property, actual rent will be considered only for the let-out period.

Any profit or gain arising from transfer of a capital asset during the year is charged to tax under the head Capital Gains.

Capital Asset is defined under Section 2(14) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to include:

Any capital asset held for a period of more than 36 months immediately preceding the date of its transfer will be treated as Long-Term Capital Asset. However, in respect of certain assets like shares (equity or preference) which are listed in a recognized stock exchange in India, units of equity-oriented mutual funds, listed securities like Debentures and Government Securities, Units of UTI and Zero Coupon Bonds, the period of holding to be considered is 12 months instead of 36 months.

• In case of unlisted shares in a company, the period of holding to be considered is 24 months instead of 36 months.
• With effect from AY 2018-19, the period of holding of immovable property (being land or building or both) shall be considered as 24 months instead of 36 months.

Generally, transfer means sale, however, as per Section 2(47) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 transfer, in relation to a Capital Asset, includes:

• Sale, exchange or relinquishment of the asset;
• Extinguishment of any rights in relation to a Capital Asset;
• Compulsory acquisition of an asset;
• Conversion of Capital Asset into Stock-in-Trade;
• Maturity or redemption of a Zero Coupon Bond;
• Allowing possession of immovable properties to the buyer in part performance of the contract of the nature referred to in section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882;
• Any transaction which has the effect of transferring an (or enabling the enjoyment of) immovable property;
• Disposing of or parting with an asset or any interest therein or creating any interest in any asset in any manner whatsoever.

• If loss under the head Capital Gains incurred during a year cannot be adjusted in the same year, then unadjusted Capital Loss can be carried forward to next year.
• In the subsequent year(s), such loss can be adjusted only against income chargeable to tax under the head Capital Gains, however, Long-Term Capital Loss can be adjusted only against Long-Term Capital Gains. Short-Term Capital Loss can be adjusted against Long-Term Capital Gains as well as Short-Term Capital Gains.
• Such loss can be carried forward for eight years immediately succeeding the year in which the loss is incurred.
• Such loss can be can carried forward only if the return of income / loss of the year in which loss is incurred is furnished on or before the due date of furnishing the return, as prescribed u/s 139(1).