From ITR to Form 16, AIS and 26AS, know ABC of Income Tax

Around six crore Indians file their income tax return every year. While some of the taxpayers file it themselves using the e-filing portal, a majority of the taxpayers take help from experts/chartered accountants to file their returns. Taxpayers often come across terms like Form 16 or 26AS, but a majority of them remain unaware of these terms.

You should also know that filing ITR is legally mandatory as per the Income Tax Act 1961. An ITR also serves as a legal document on occasions like loan applications, visa applications and overseas education.

If you are going to file the ITR for the first time, you should put together some documents that include a salary certificate/form 16, interest certificates issued by your banks for the deposits/education loans and housing loans, life insurance premium receipts, health insurance premium receipts, bank account statement, Form 26AS, bank account number and IFSC code, quarter-wise information on dividends received during the previous year and annual information statement (AIS).

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Let's take a look at the ABC of the income tax:

e-filing: It refers to filing your income tax return online using either the income tax website or any other online portal. You can also file your income tax offline by filling out the required forms and attaching the supporting documents with them.

ITR: It stands for Income Tax-Return. A form taxpayers have to submit to the Income Tax Department. It carries information about the taxpayer's annual income and the taxes s/he is liable to pay on the income during that particular year.

Taxpayers: A taxpayer is an individual or business firm that is bound to pay taxes to the government for earning more than the tax-free limit.

Form 16: This is a certificate from your employer that tax has been deducted from your salary and deposited on your behalf. A salaried person can get Form 16 from his/her employer.

AIS: Annual Information Statement (AIS) carries the details of your financial transactions for a financial year. AIS helps you in filing the appropriate ITR form. To view your AIS form, login to the income tax portal, go to the services tab, click on AIS and download AIS as a PDF or as a JSON.

Form 26AS: This is the statement which provides details of the tax deducted, collected and paid during a financial year. To download form 26AS, visit the income tax website and log in using your credentials, then go to the e-file menu, select income tax return and then click on 'view form 26AS'.