Form 16: what it is, how to read it, and what to check before you file

Every employer who deducts tax from salary must give each employee a certificate under section 203 of the Income-tax Act, in Form 16, by 15 June following the financial year. For FY 2025-26 that was 15 June 2026. An employer who deducted no tax because the salary was below the taxable limit is not obliged to issue one, though many do.

You cannot download your own Form 16. Only the employer can generate it, from the TRACES portal, after filing the fourth-quarter salary TDS statement. What you can download yourself is Form 26AS and the Annual Information Statement, which show the same tax credits; see our 26AS and AIS guide.

A Part A that did not come from TRACES, without the TRACES logo and certificate number, is not a valid certificate. Related documents: a perquisite statement (formerly Form 12BA); Form 124 (formerly 12BB) is the declaration of investments and rent you gave the employer; Form 122 (formerly 12B) carries your earlier salary to a new employer in the same year.

1. PAN. One wrong character and the credit goes to someone else. It must match your PAN card exactly.
2. TDS in Part A against Form 26AS. The quarterly totals must match what appears against the employer’s TAN in Form 26AS. If the employer deducted tax but did not deposit it or file the statement, the credit will not appear, and the department will deny it at processing.
3. Regime. Part B states whether tax was computed under the new or the old regime. You may choose differently in the return, but know which you are comparing with.
4. Exemptions and deductions you declared but did not prove. HRA, LTA or 80C claims left out because proofs were submitted late can still be claimed in the return in the old regime, with the documents kept.
5. Other income. Interest, rent and capital gains are not in Form 16 unless you declared them. They are in the AIS, and they belong in the return.

Each employer issues a Form 16 for its own period, and each usually applies the standard deduction and the basic exemption in full. Added together, the tax deducted is too low, and the return shows a balance payable with interest. Give the new employer Form 12B with the earlier salary so that the deduction is right, or compute the shortfall and pay it as advance tax; our advance tax guide shows how.

Form 16 is evidence, not a precondition. If the employer has closed down, refuses, or is late, compute salary from the payslips and the bank credits, take the tax deducted from Form 26AS, and file. Where tax was deducted from your salary but does not appear in Form 26AS, write to the employer to file or correct the TDS statement, and keep the payslips: the law bars the department from recovering from the employee tax that the employer deducted and failed to deposit.

An employer who fails to issue the certificate on time is liable to a daily penalty under section 272A. In practice a written request copied to the payroll head gets it faster than a complaint.

The certificates for other income are different forms: Form 131 (formerly 16A) for non-salary TDS such as interest and professional fees, and Form 132 (formerly 16B and 16C) for property purchases and rent paid by individuals. A chartered accountant reconciles all of them before filing; ours file a salaried return from ₹499.