Updated : September 18, 2024Form 26AS: Introduction & Steps to View and Download form 26AS Online
Overview : In this article, we have discussed the step-by-step process for downloading the form 26AS from the official website of the Income Tax Department. The Form 26AS is an auto-populated tax credit statement of the TDS or TCS deposited by the respective deductors to the credit of the taxpayer and acts as a reference at the time of ITR filing. By following the instructions explained in the article, the taxpayer can view and download form 26AS for the current & past financial years.
What is Form 26AS?
Form 26AS is an essential annual consolidated tax statement that constitutes tax deduction or collection at source or advance tax payment, self-assessment tax payments, etc for a financial year on your PAN (Permanent Account Number). Form 26AS serves as a record for the different tax deductions and collection at various entities, employers, banks or such other financial institutions on behalf of the taxpayer. Subsequently assisting in reconciling tax deduction, compliance verification, tax planning, and Audit assistance to the taxpayers that helps in getting accurate information to the Income Tax Department through ITR filing. Following is the Step Wise Process to View & Download Form 26AS.
Step 1: Log in to the Income Tax E-filing portal
You have to visit the Income Tax E-Filing Portal (https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/) and log in with your registration ID (that will be your PAN) and Password (new registration can be done on the login page if you are first time visitor).
Step 2: Navigate to Form 26AS
After successful login, click on “e-file” and in the drop-down, choose the first option “Income Tax Returns”, then click the sub-option “View Form 26AS”. This section is typically found as “Annual Information System (Form 26AS)”.
Step 3: View Form 26AS
A popup will ask for permission and you have to click on “I Agree” and then on “Proceed”. Now you have reached your destination i.e. FORM 26AS, select the desired assessment year . Here you can view form 26AS by selecting the assessment year and selecting the option “View type: HTML”.
Step 4: Select Financial Year
The next screen appears with a popup window with a disclaimer, where you have to click on “Confirm”, this will forward you to the “TRACES” website (this is also one of the government websites that facilitates the transaction).
Step 5: Download Form 26AS Online
After you select the financial year, you need to select the HTML or Text format from the dropdown. This will populate the data of form 26AS on the screen below, with an option to download it as a PDF.
Conclusion
Form 26AS is a very important tax document that acts as a facilitator in tax analysis for a user and forms a vital part of the Indian Tax System. After reading this Article any reader can now understand its importance in ITR filing, helping them get accurate tax information, maintaining compliance and avoiding penal charges for wrong information submission. This Article will help its reader get a clear idea of what is Form 26AS and how to download it.
