A taxpayer may not have Form 16 due to reasons such as employer closing operations, employee quitting without completing the exit formalities and when the employer is not traceable.

Being a salaried individual, the first step to file tax returns is to obtain Form 16 from your existing employer. In simple terms, Form-16 is a TDS Certificate that lists all your taxable income and various tax deductions at source (TDS). However, even if you do not get the Form 16 from your employer, you can still file your income tax return.

To file your ITR without Form 16, you need to have certain relevant document along with you and also, you need to follow few steps to file your tax returns.

Conditions under which employee may not get form 16

First let us tell you under which circumstances you may not have your Form 16 with you. Mostly, employees may not get a Form 16 if their total income is less than the exemption limit. Even in some cases where total income is more than the exemption limit, the employee does not receive Form 16.

“This may be due to various reasons such as employer closed its operations, employee left the company without completing the exit formalities and old employer is not traceable due to any reason,” says Chetan Chandak, Head of Tax research, H&R Block India.

Documents required in absence of Form 16

You require some of the necessary documents to file your ITR, if you do not have Form 16. Monthly Pay slips for finding out your taxable income and other exempt component of your salary like Conveyance Allowance, Children’s Education Allowance/ Hostel allowance, HRA etc. Your tax credit statement which is your Form 26-AS that will help you in finding the exact tax deducted by your employer. You are required to furnish the details of rent paid by you, it is basically required for claiming HRA exemption.

Details of your tax-saving investment and expenses and any other income earned by you during the previous year and Form 16A, if any, relating to that income. You are also required to provide the details of any advance tax or self-assessment tax, if paid any. This will help you in claiming the credit of it in your tax return.

Here are 9 simple steps to e-file your ITR without Form 16

You have to follow the below-mentioned steps and complete the e-filing procedure.

--Collect Pay Slips

Collect and keep all your pay slips that you have received in that financial year containing your net salary details and add it. If you have switched jobs within a financial year, make sure that you get the pay slips from both the companies and add them.

--Calculate your salary income

After collecting all the salary slips, you need to compute your total salary for the financial year. You can even verify the amount via the amount credited in your salary bank account. You should, however, keep in mind that the salary that you receive is the amount paid after deducting Provident Fund (both your own contribution and employer’s contribution), Pension Fund contribution, Profession Tax, TDS, etc. You can calculate your gross salary for reporting on the income tax return. Though employer’s PF contribution should not be considered while calculating the taxable salary but your own contribution gets added to the taxable portion.

--Know how much tax is deducted

The next step will be to check the TDS that has been deducted by your employer in that financial year. To check the amount, you will have to refer to Form 26AS. If the tax deducted in Form 26AS is same as your employer has mentioned in pay slips, you can move forward with next steps, but if the calculation is wrong, you will need to discuss it with your employer.

--Claim HRA or other exempt allowance

Almost every employee has a House Rent Allowance (HRA) component which is beneficial for people who live in rented house/apartment. If you are a salaried person and you live in a rented house, you can claim deductions in tax for this component, for which you will have to submit your rent receipts to your payroll department of the organisation. If you haven’t submitted the receipts, you can do so when filing your tax returns. You can also reduce allowances like conveyance, children education and hostel allowance, food coupons etc. from your taxable salary, do remember to claim all these deductions wherever possible.

--Claim all the other deductions under Chapter VI-A

There are many investments under Section 80C that allows tax deductions. You can avail the benefits of investment and can claim deductions on the same under different sections, as per the type of investment availed.

--Add Income from other sources

Income earned from other sources such as rent earned from a property, part-time business venture as well as interest earned on fixed deposits, should be declared under total taxable income.

--Compute net taxable income

Now calculate all the income and subtract the deductions so that you can get the exact figures of your taxable income. After this calculate your income tax on the taxable income as per the IT slab rates for declared for that financial year.

--Pay additional tax if necessary

After the calculation, if you find that the amount of tax paid by you is less than the amount mentioned in Form 26AS then you will have to pay the excess amount to the relevant authority.

--E-file your ITR without Form 16

Once you have ensured that the differential amount has been paid and everything matches as per Form 26AS you can then e-file your tax returns safely and successfully without Form 16.