New Form 26AS: All You Need To Know About Changes For Income Tax Return Purposes
At the end of May, the Income Tax department informed of changes made to Form 26AS, the statement that shows a detailed account of all the tax deducted at source (TDS) against your PAN. If you are a salaried individual, you could use Form 16-provided by your employer- for assistance in filing your income tax returns (ITR). However, there are some other places where TDS is charged, for example, on interest earned on bank deposits, that are not included in Form 16.
With effect from 1 June 2020, certain changes were made to the format as well as information included in Form 26AS and you should take these into consideration before filing ITR.
Also note that due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent restrictions in movement, the deadline to file ITR for the financial year 2019-20 has been extended from 31 July to 30 November 2020. Also, in case you failed to make your tax-saving investments for 2019-20, you have up to 30 June to do so.
Format
The format of Form 26AS has been changed to display Aadhaar number, date of birth, mobile number, email ID and address of the taxpayer.
Specified financial transaction information
Along with information related to tax deducted at source (TDS) for income earned or the amount deposited against your PAN, information related to specified financial transactions will be included in the Form 26AS.
Cash transactions
- Cash payment for the purchase of bank drafts or pay orders or banker's cheque or for purchase of pre-paid instruments issued by the RBI, if aggregate payment is Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year.
- Cash deposits/withdrawals in/from one or more current account of a person, if aggregate payment is Rs 50 lakh or more in a financial year.
- Cash deposits in one or more accounts (other than a current account and time deposit) of a person, if aggregate payment is Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year.
- Receipt of cash payment for sale of goods or services of any nature, not being a transaction whose specific reporting is otherwise required, if the amount exceeds Rs 2 lakh.
Credit cards
- Payment in cash for one or more credit cards issued to the taxpayer, if aggregate payment is Rs 1 lakh or more in a financial year.
- Payment in any mode (other than cash) for one or more credit cards issued to the taxpayer, if aggregate payment is Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year.
Time deposits/fixed deposits
- Time deposits or fixed deposits (other than a time deposit made through renewal of another time deposit), if aggregate payment is Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year.
Bonds/debentures
- Receipt from any person for acquiring bonds or debentures issued by the company or institution (other than the amount received on account of renewal of the bond or debenture issued by that company), if aggregate payment is Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year.
- Receipt from any person for acquiring shares (including share application money) issued by the company, buyback of shares from any person (other than the shares bought in the open market), if aggregate payment is Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year.
Equity shares
- Receipt from any person for acquiring units of one or more schemes of a Mutual Fund (other than the amount received on account of transfer from one scheme to another scheme of that Mutual Fund), if aggregate payment is Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year.
Real estate
- Purchase or sale by of immovable property, if transaction value or valuation by Stamp Valuation Authority is Rs 30 lakh or more.
Forex
- Receipt from any person for sale of foreign currency including credit of such currency to foreign exchange card, if aggregate payment is Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year.
- Expense in foreign currency through a debit or credit card or through the issue of Travellers Cheque or Draft or any other instrument, aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year.
Other information in Form 26AS
- Information related to an outstanding tax demand or income tax refund
- Information related to any income tax proceedings you are involved in.
How to download your Form 26AS?
- Visit the income tax department's official website: www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in
- Login in to your account.
- Go to "My Account" menu and view "Form 26AS (Tax Credit) link.
- Read and click "confirm" to the disclaimer on the screen.
- You will be directed to TDS-CPC Portal. Agree to acceptance of usage.
- Click "Proceed."
- Click "View Tax Credit (Form 26AS)."
- Select the assessment year and view format. Assessment is the year following the financial year. For example, the assessment year for the financial year 2019-20 will be the current year 2020-21.
- Click view/download.