Even without a Form 16, one can e-file tax returns

The Form 16 is one of the most important documents that is required to e-file income tax returns. Since it contains all the required information regarding your salary, tax deducted at source (TDS) on your behalf and your tax-saving deductions, among others, you can use the Form 16 to easily input the required information into the income tax return form and successfully file your returns.

This is why the Form 16 is important. If you’re a salaried employee, your employer is obligated to provide you with your Form 16. But in some rare cases, when the Form 16 is not given, you can still e-file your income tax returns. Here’s how.

Your Form 16 is basically a certificate or income proof that provides information on your taxable income and TDS. While all these details will be readily available to you if you have your Form 16, you can still calculate them by yourself if you don’t. To calculate your taxable income and TDS deducted, you would need the following documents and details:

Payslips to calculate income

Form 26AS to calculate TDS

Rent receipts to calculate house rent allowance (HRA)
Details of tax-saving expenses and investments

Details of income other than salary

Once you have all this information in hand, you can calculate your total income and minus the TDS and deductions from it to arrive at your taxable income. Of course, doing all these are not as easy as it sounds. So let’s take a look at each of these steps in a little more detail.

Collecting payslips: All your payslips put together have the salary that you have earned through the financial year. This would work even if you have changed jobs during the year, you would have payslips from the different employers to add up your total salary income.

Deducing TDS from Form 26AS: Also known as the tax credit statement, your Form 26AS contains information on the TDS deducted on your behalf when various payments are made to you. This includes the TDS deducted by your employers before paying your salary. You can download the Form 26AS from the income tax department website to check that there’s no discrepancy in the TDS.

Claiming house rent allowance: If you’re a salaried employee and you live in rented accomodation, you’re allowed to claim house rent allowance. To claim this deduction, you need to submit the house rent receipts to your employer. If, for some reason, you failed to submit the rent receipts, you can still claim house rent allowance as long as you have the relevant details.

Availing the benefit of tax-saving deductions: Individual taxpayers can save up to Rs 1.5 lakh in income tax by claiming deductions on certain investments and expenses. When filing your tax returns without a Form 16, you should have the details of such investments and expenses and enter them in the relevant fields.

Income from other sources: Quite often, salary income is not the only income that one earns. You will also be earning from house property or fixed deposits and other such investments. Even the interest earned on savings bank accounts is a source of income that needs to be mentioned while filing tax returns. This is how you can file your tax returns even without a Form 16. Of course, it is much easier if you do have a Form 16 so make sure you get it from your employer.

( The writer is founder and CEO of ClearTax.com)