Form 16 — what each part means and what to check
Form 16 is the certificate your employer issues showing the salary paid to you and the tax deducted from it. It comes in two parts: Part A, generated from the TRACES portal and showing quarterly tax deposited, and Part B, prepared by the employer and showing how your taxable salary was arrived at. Both matter, and they can disagree with each other.
At a glance
- Issued by
- Your employer
- Part A
- TDS deposited quarterly, generated from TRACES
- Part B
- Salary breakdown, exemptions and deductions
- Needed for
- ITR-1, ITR-2 and any return with salary income
- If you changed jobs
- One from every employer
What to check before you file
Compare the TDS in Part A against Form 26AS. They should match exactly. Where Part A shows tax deducted that 26AS does not, the employer deducted it but has not deposited or reported it correctly, and you cannot claim credit until that is fixed — with the employer, not with the department.
In Part B, check that the exemptions actually claimed match what you were entitled to. HRA is the usual offender: employers compute it from what you declared in January, and if you declared nothing, no exemption appears — even though you paid rent all year.
What to do if you never received one
An employer who deducted tax is obliged to issue Form 16. If you did not get one, you can still file: Form 26AS and AIS between them show the salary reported and the tax deposited, and your payslips supply the rest. The return does not require Form 16 to be attached — nothing is attached to an income tax return.
The HRA you did not declare to your employer is not lost — it is claimed in the return
Employers compute exemptions from the investment declaration you filed months earlier. Miss the declaration window, or start paying rent mid-year, and your Form 16 shows no HRA exemption at all. People assume the number on Form 16 is final and file it as-is, paying tax on allowance that was never taxable. It is not final. The exemption is claimed in the return on the actual rent paid, on the three statutory limbs, and the excess TDS comes back as a refund. You need rent receipts and, above ₹1,00,000 of annual rent, the landlord's PAN.
Questions we get asked
My Form 16 and Form 26AS show different TDS. Which is right?
You can only claim credit for what appears in 26AS, because that is what the department has recorded. If Part A shows more, the employer needs to file a correction. Chase the employer, not the department.
I have three Form 16s from one year.
Add them together. Each employer applied the full exemption limit and standard deduction independently, so your combined TDS is almost certainly short and a balance will be payable.
Does Form 16 need to be uploaded with the return?
No. Nothing is attached to an income tax return. Keep it in case a query arises later.
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