I come across many people who ask me how they can check the status of their Tax Deducted at Source ('TDS'). Well, this is super easy! Before proceeding to checking TDS information, one should know how TDS works.
Why TDS?
The concept of TDS was introduced to reduce the possibility of tax evasion and facilitating collection of tax from the very source of income. In fact, the transactions requiring TDS collection and the rate of TDS applicable keeps changing from time to time. It can be said that wherever the concerned authorities observe increase in instances of tax evasion or other problems in ensuring collection of taxes, they tend to bring it within the TDS bracket.
How does TDS work?
A person ('Deductor') who is liable under law to make payment of specified nature to any other person ('Deductee') is required to deduct tax at source at the time of payment or at the time of booking of expense, whichever is earlier, and remit the same to the Central Government. The deductee from whose income TDS has been deducted at source is entitled to get credit of the amount so deducted on the basis of:
- Form 26AS or
- TDS certificate issued by the deductor.
What is the need of Form 26AS?
Of course, issuance of TDS certificate is an obligation for the deductor and you can check status of TDS deducted from such certificates. However, there may be delays in issuance of such certificate at the end of the deductor for many reasons and you may also want to have a consolidated picture of your TDS deducted, from all sources of income, at one place. This is where the Form 26AS comes into picture[1].
In light of the above background, I will now elaborate how can you get the Form 26AS in least number of steps possible as follows:
Step 1: Visit the official website of income tax department at: https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home
Step 2: Login using your credentials or register yourself using the options given on the top, right corner of the website.
(a) 
(b) 
(c) After the login, following page will be displayed on the screen:
Step 3: Click on 'View Form 26AS (Tax Credit)' option, given under the second tab ' My Account', as shown below:
Step 4: Click confirm when the following page is displayed on the screen:
Step 5: Tick the box 'I agree to the usage…….' and click proceed as shown below:
Step 6: Click on hyperlink ' View tax Credit (Form 26AS)' in blue as shown below:
Step 7: Now, select the Assessment Year [2] for which you want to check the TDS status; select ' HTML' in ' view as' option; and click ' view/download'. Once you do so, the option for ' Export as PDF' will get activated. Thus, clicking on it, you can export the Form 26AS in pdf format and save it wherever you want.
So, don't worry if you haven' t received your TDS certificate. There is always an alternative, you just need to look for it. Hope this was a helpful to you.
It is my first attempt at writing and I look forward to your valuable feedback. If you have any queries or comments in this regard or you want me to write on any particular topic, you can reach out to me at shrinkhlagupta07@gmail.com .
Keep learning, keep exploring and keep growing!
THANK YOU!
- [1] It must be noted that the TDS deductor is required to file TDS return after deduction of TDS. The credit in form 26AS is reflected only after the TDS return filed by the deductor has been processed by the system.
- [2] Assessment Year is the year in which one file income tax returns of the year prior to it (i.e. Financial Year). It is the year in which the income that one has earned in the financial year that is just ended is evaluated. E.g. For Financial Year 2019-20 the Assessment Year will be 2020-21.
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