Form 16, a certificate issued by an employer, contains the information that one requires while filing the income tax return (ITR). These certificates provide details of TDS/TCS for various transactions between deductor and deductee.

Form 16 has two components – Part A and Part B.

Part A includes components such as name and address of the employer, TAN and PAN of employer, PAN of the employee, summary of tax deducted and deposited quarterly, which is certified by the employer, according to ClearTax - an income tax e-filing website.

Part B contains detailed breakup of salary, detailed breakup of exempted allowances under section 10 and deductions allowed under the Income Tax Act (under chapter VIA).

This form is digitally signed by or on behalf of employer. Employees should, however, check and validate the form to make sure that it is authentic and no tampering has been done with it.

Here are steps to validate it online:

Step 1: Visit income tax filing website - incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in

Step 2: Login to the account using PAN.

Step 3: Go to 'My account' tab and click on 'view Form 26AS'.

Step 4: TRACES website will open. Now, click on 'Verify TDS certificate' under view/verify tax credit tab.

Step 5: Enter details like TAN of decuctor, assessment year, TDS amount deducted per certificate, TDS certificate number, source of income. All these details are available in TDS certificate except for source of income.

Step 6: Now, click on validate.

If the TDS certificate received is valid, then the website will show the same result. If not, then contact the tax deductor and ask for a valid TDS certificate.