#FinancialBytes: Know how to file your ITR without Form 16
What's the story
The due-date for filing your Income Tax return for this assessment year is July 31. As you might already know, Form 16 is a statement provided by the employer, laying down salary, other allowances and taxes deducted from an employee during an assessment year. But, in case you've not been provided with your Form 16, here's how you can still file your ITR.
The Alternative
What to do if you don't have your Form 16?
Filing your ITR would require details of the total income you earned during the year, including the salaries given by various employers, for which Form 16 becomes important. But it may so happen that you've not been given Form 16 by one of your employers. In such cases, you can use Form 26AS and your salary-slips to prepare and file ITR.
Definition
What exactly is Form 26AS?
For those unaware, Form 26AS is your tax passbook that showcases the taxes that have been deducted from your income, and deposited against your PAN, during the assessment year in question.
How?
What to include in your ITR
Typically, in your ITR, you'll have to include items such as your salary, taxable allowance, profit in lieu of salary deductions under Section 16, and exempted allowances. But if a Form 16 is missing, you'll have to compute the value of each of these items separately, to enter in your ITR filing. All the components of salary and perquisites must be taken into account.
Quote
Naveen Wadhwa on how to use salary-slips to file ITR
"Generally, the taxable and exempt amounts are specified for each component of salary in the salary slip. A taxpayer just needs to segregate the salary components from these categories. Once this is done, it can be reported in the ITR," says Naveen Wadhwa of Taxmann.