Form 16 — Salary TDS Certificate

Form 16 is the certificate your employer issues for the tax deducted on your salary. It comes in two parts and is the natural starting point for a salaried income tax return.

What it is

Form 16 is the TDS certificate for salary. Part A, generated from the TRACES system, carries your PAN and the employer's TAN and summarises the tax deducted and deposited quarter by quarter. Part B is the detailed annexure: your salary breakup, exempt allowances such as HRA, the standard deduction, Chapter VI-A deductions, and the resulting taxable income and tax.

Why it matters

For a salaried person, Form 16 contains almost everything needed to prepare a return — income, exemptions, deductions and tax already paid. Part A's TDS figures should match what appears in your Form 26AS and AIS; a mismatch can mean credit is lost for tax that was actually deducted. Reading Form 16 carefully is the first step to a correct return.

Example Illustrative

Suppose your Form 16 Part B shows gross salary of ₹12,00,000, a standard deduction of ₹75,000 and TDS of ₹85,000 in Part A. You carry those figures into your return, confirm the ₹85,000 also shows in Form 26AS, and compute the balance tax or refund from there. Figures are illustrative only.