The government via a notification dated May 28, 2020, has made changes to the Form 26AS. These changes have come into effect from June 1, 2020. Here are the four new changes in Form 26AS that will appear from now onwards.

Your tax passbook, i.e., Form 26AS, will come with a few changes this year. Along with a new format, effective from June 1, 2020, your Form 26AS will now contain information regarding tax refunds and demands (if any) against your name. The Form 26AS will also have information about specified financial transactions such as stocks you have bought or sold, real estate transactions, payment details of credit card bills etc.

These changes were notified by the government via a notification dated May 28, 2020.

Here's a look at all the changes that have been made to the Form 26AS.

New format of Form 26AS
The new format will show your Aadhaar number, date of birth, mobile number, email ID and your address.

Information related to specified financial transactions
Along with the details of tax deducted from various income sources such as salary, interest etc. and deposited against your PAN during the financial year, the revised form will also have information related to specified financial transactions.

These include buying and selling of shares, real estate etc., making cash payments for purchase of bank drafts, pre-paid instruments by Reserve Bank of India (such as mobile wallets), cash deposits in a financial year, payment of credit card bills (both cash or and other modes).

Chartered Accountant, Naveen Wadhwa, DGM, Taxmann.com says, "The revised Form 26AS will show the specified financial transactions which have been undertaken from June 1, 2020. However, these transactions will be shown only if they cross the specified limit in a financial year. For instance, if the aggregate credit card bill paid via electronic modes (not including the cash payment) exceeds Rs 10 lakh, then payment of credit card bill will be reflected in Form 26AS. Similarly, if the mutual fundinvestments in a financial year exceeds Rs 10 lakh, only then such transactions will be reflected in the Form 26AS."

List of specified financial transactions that will be shown in Form 26AS

Information related to income tax demand and refund
Want to know if a tax refund has been paid to you for the year or if you have an outstanding tax demand against your name? The new Form 26AS will contain this information as well.

Wadhwa says, "Earlier, this information could be checked by logging in to your account on the e-filing website of the income tax department. However, now outstanding tax demand or income tax refund will be available in the Form 26AS as well. Currently, it shows details of tax refund paid to an individual. However, it is yet to be seen if now on it will continue to show the tax refund amount that has been paid or amount that is due to the individual."

Information related to income tax proceedings
You can now check the status of any income tax proceedings you are involved in your Form 26AS. Wadhwa says, "An individual can now also check the status of any income tax proceedings via Form 26AS. The revised Form 26AS will show if there are any pending proceedings that are on-going with the income tax department or if the proceedings are completed. However, it is yet to be seen what additional details regardingthe proceedings will be shown in the Form 26AS."