GST returns will reflect in your Income Tax Passbook (Form 26AS)

What is Form 26AS?

• Every individual or company that has deducted taxes must credit that amount to the government via banks.
• Form 26AS is an annual consolidated tax statement generated by the Income Tax Department.
• It can easily be accessed from the income-tax website by all taxpayers using their Permanent Account Number (PAN).
• A Form 26AS contains the amount of the tax deducted at source (TDS) of the salaried class and taxes paid during the financial year (in case of self-employed or businessmen).
• While filing the ITR, taxpayers can refer to their Form 26AS and tally it with their Form 16 (provided by the employers/banks/mutual funds, etc.) for the amount of taxes they paid to the treasury of the central government.

Amendments in Form 26AS - Income Tax Passbooks

This year CBDT has introduced Form 26AS in a new format with a few amendments. As per notification No. 30/2020 of CBDT:

• The Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director-General of Income-tax (Systems) or any person authorized by him shall, under section 285BB of the Income-tax Act,1961, upload in the registered account of the assessee an annual information statement in Form No. 26AS containing the information specified in column (2) of the table below, which is in his possession within three months from the end of the month in which the information is received by him.
• The new format will show your Aadhaar number, date of birth, mobile number, email ID, and address.
• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said “the Form 26AS earlier used to give information regarding TDS and TCS besides certain additional information including details of other taxes paid, refunds and TDS defaults.”
• “But now it will have SFTs ( Statement of Financial Transactions) to help the taxpayers remind all her/his major financial transactions so that s/he has a ready reckoner to enable her/him while filing the ITR,” it said.
• The new ‘Annual Information Statement’ i.e 26AS will have all the information on taxes paid by you, details of pending as well as completed income tax proceedings, the status of income tax refund and demand along with details of specified financial transactions like purchase of shares or property.

GST returns information will reflect in Form 26AS

• The CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) authorizes the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director-General of Income-tax (Systems) to upload information relating to GST returns, which is in his possession, in the Annual Information Statement in Form 26AS, within three months from the end of the month in which the information is received by him.
• The format of Form 26AS was also enlarged and amended to include information received from other departments/ agencies, including the GST authorities.
• That means the new form 26AS will now reflect GST turnover information as well.

The format of the new Annual Information Statement

Download the CBDT notification no. 30/2020 dated 28th May 2020.

The new Form 26AS is the faceless hand-holding of the taxpayers to e-file their income tax returns quickly and correctly. Not only this but this move will bring more transparency and detail to the form and the financial condition of the assesses.