Mismatch of salary income in form 16 & 26 AS

Your observation is correct. But the employer cannot report the net income from salary in its TDS return in 24Q which ultimately goes to 26AS. The annexure to 24Q also contains the net income after all exemptions/ deductiosn under section 10/16. So Dept is aware of the gross as well as net salary of an employee assessee.

ICAI should point this out to CBDT for addressal. i wpuld request you to write to the Chairman of Direct Taxes Committee of ICAI.

Regards,

Solution is required to takle the present problem. The return will be processed online & immediate notice will be issued for demand according to the income shown in 26AS.

Writing to ICAI Direct Tax Chairman is not the immediate solution. Writing to him now, may give some useful results after 4 to 5 years but not today.

Hi,

As per your case, Income tax department is demanding additonal tax as they have considered old Form26 AS.

I will explain the case which is reverse to your situation:

• At the time of filing return Form 26AS is showing 12,00,000 and you have paid the taxes, there is no due.
• After filing when the return is under process Form 26AS is showing 14,00,000.

In this situration department will not leave you. They will issue 143(1) for additional tax as per the processed/revised Form 26AS.

Conclusion:

• In your situation unneccesaarily department is demanding additional tax.
• Instead, we do have right to get back the refund instead of paying tax as per 143(1).
• As your revised Income is lower than the actual amount considered while filing the return

Regards,

Pavan Kumar Arvapally

My salary was low until March, my employer deducted TDS for the particular month. Now the situation is that My Form 16 Salary has whole 12 month aggregate but  26AS shows only the particular month salary for which TDS was deducted. How can I rectify this mismatch 

Both documents serve a different purpose and the right answer is to reconcile both, not pick one.

What each document shows:
- Form 16 Part A: TDS deducted and deposited by your employer, drawn from TRACES
- Form 16 Part B: Detailed salary breakup ,  basic, HRA, allowances, perquisites, deductions as computed by employer
- Form 26AS: TDS entries deposited against your PAN across all deductors (employer, bank, others)
- AIS (Annual Information Statement): A more comprehensive view including employer-reported salary, TDS, interest, capital gains, and high-value transactions

How to resolve a mismatch:
1. Check if the Form 16 TDS amount matches what is in Form 26AS under your employer deductor entry. They should match unless your employer made a delayed deposit
2. If salary amounts differ, AIS salary data (reported by employer to IT department) is what the department compares against your ITR. If AIS says Rs 12 lakh and Form 16 says Rs 11 lakh, investigate why before filing
3. Common causes: increment paid at year end not captured in Form 16, employer made a TDS return correction, perquisite values revised

In ITR: report your correct actual income. If Form 16 and AIS both show the same figure, use that. If there is a genuine discrepancy, check with your employer and ask for a revised Form 16 before July 31, 2026.

This [pre-filled ITR verification guide for AY 2026-27](https://taxgarden.in/blog/pre-filled-itr-how-to-verify-check-correct-errors-ay-2026-27) covers the reconciliation step-by-step.