Follow these seven simple steps to download Form 26AS via the income tax department's e-filing website.

Form 26AS is an annual consolidated tax credit statement which taxpayers can access, view or download from the income tax department's e-filing website. It is one of the most important documents taxpayers should verify before filing their ITR.

There are other two ways to download this tax credit statement:
1. The TRACES website;
2. The taxpayer's Internet banking.

In the above two cases, you have to separately create your login ID for viewing/downloading Form 26AS. Not all banks provide you the facility to view/download Form 26AS.

Most taxpayers prefer to download Form 26AS from the income tax department's e-filing website since they are already registered to file their returns. So, it becomes easy for them to download Form 26AS through the e-filing website using the same login credentials.

Vishvajit Sonagara, Founder, Quicko.com, an Ahmedabad-based e-tax filing portal, said, "You can use Form 26AS to check TDS deducted and deposited by your employer, in case you have not received Form 16. However, when you receive Form 16, you can crosscheck tax credit figures in both documents to ensure that they match. This is to avoid getting a notice u/s 143(1) in case you forget to disclose any income in your ITR for which taxes are deducted as per Form 26AS."

Thus, it becomes important to download and carefully check the necessary details. Follow these seven simple steps to download your Form 26AS via the income tax department's e-filing website.

Step 1: Visit incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in website, under 'Registered user' option, click on 'Login here' tab.

Step 2: The taxpayer has to enter his/her User ID (your PAN number), Password, Captcha and then, click on the 'Login' tab.

Step 3: Once logged in successfully, click on 'My Account' tab. Click on 'View Form 26AS (Tax Credit)' from the drop-down options available.

Step 4: After clicking on 'View Form 26AS' under 'My Account' tab, you will be redirected to the TDS-CPC website to view/download Form 26AS statement. Since TDS-CPC website is operated by other parties, you have to provide a confirmation by clicking on the 'Confirm' tab before proceeding further.

Step 5: Once you are redirected to the TRACES website, which is the TDS-CPS website, click on the 'View Form 26AS'.

Step 6: Now select the 'Assessment Year' from the drop-down. To download Form 26AS in PDF format, under 'View As' tab drop-down list select 'HTML' and click on view/download tab then click on 'Export as PDF' tab. To download Form 26AS in text format, under 'View As' tab drop-down list select 'Text' and click on 'View/Download'.

Earlier, the downloaded file (in any format as selected) was password protected. The password to open Form 26AS was/is the taxpayer's Date of Birth in DDMMYYYY format. For example, if the date of birth is 18th February 1956 then the password to open the file was/is 18021956. However, from now onwards you don't have to enter any password to open the downloaded PFD file.