Form 26AS is a statement issued under the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here are the top 10 things you should know about Form 26AS.

Form 26AS is a statement issued under the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here are the top 10 things you should know about Form 26AS.

• Form 26AS has details of tax deducted at source (TDS) by employer (on salary), bank (on interest), tenant (on the rent), etc.

• When Form 15G or 15H is submitted, no TDS is deducted by bank on interest income. The interest details reflect in Part A1. If you have not submitted Form 15G or Form 15H, this section will display ‘No transactions present’.

• If any property is sold during the year and TDS was deducted from your receipts, the details of amount paid and TDS deducted is summarised in Part A2.

• Part B contains the details of the tax collected at source (TCS) by the seller of goods. If you are a seller and tax is collected by you, entries will be present here.

• Part C of Tax Credit Statement has details of any taxes paid by you. Details of advance tax, self-assessment tax is also present here. It also has the details of the challan through which the tax was deposited.

• Any refund that is paid by Income Tax Department, along with Interest (if any) finds a place in Part D of Form 26AS.

• Additionally, the statement also contains details of high-value transactions based on report submitted by banks and other financial institutions to Tax Authorities. High-value mutual fund purchases, property purchases, and high-value corporate bonds are all reported here.

• Every taxpayer should verify whether the TDS deducted on income and taxes paid match with details in the Form 26AS.

• Any income that appears in Form 26AS should be reported in the Income Tax Return. Non-disclosure of these incomes in your return may attract income tax notice.

• Form 26AS can be downloaded on the TRACES website or via net banking facility of authorised banks. The password for opening Form 26AS is your Date of Birth (in DDMMYYYY format). You can view Form 26AS from FY 2008-09 onwards.

Thus, having Form 26AS while filing your income tax return can go a long way while filing your income tax returns.