If you are salaried, Form 16 is the single most important document you will use while filing your Income Tax Return. It is your employer's certificate confirming how much they paid you and how much tax they deducted and deposited against your PAN. Read it properly and filing becomes a copy-and-check exercise. Skim it, and you risk a mismatch that surfaces months later as a tax notice.
Part A vs Part B — what each one actually contains
Form 16 comes in two parts, and they are produced by different systems. Understanding which is which tells you what can and cannot be changed.
| Part A | Part B | |
|---|---|---|
| Generated by | TRACES portal (government) | Your employer |
| Purpose | Proof that TDS was deposited | How your taxable salary was computed |
| Key contents | Your PAN, employer's TAN, period of employment, quarter-wise TDS deducted and deposited | Gross salary, exempt allowances, standard deduction, Chapter VI-A deductions, taxable income, tax payable |
| If it is wrong | Employer must file a TDS correction return | Employer can reissue a corrected Part B |
How to read Part B, line by line
Part B is where your actual tax computation lives. Work down it in this order:
- Gross salary — salary as per Section 17(1), plus perquisites under 17(2) and profits in lieu of salary under 17(3). This is the headline figure before anything is taken out.
- Allowances exempt under Section 10 — most commonly House Rent Allowance, Leave Travel Allowance and gratuity. These are subtracted from gross salary. Note that HRA and LTA exemptions are only available under the Old Regime.
- Standard deduction — a flat deduction from salary income. For FY 2025-26 it is ₹75,000 under the New Regime and ₹50,000 under the Old Regime.
- Deductions under Chapter VI-A — Section 80C (up to ₹1.5 lakh), 80D for health insurance, 80CCD(1B) for NPS, 80TTA/80TTB for savings interest, and so on. Again, most of these apply only under the Old Regime.
- Total taxable income and tax payable — the final computed figure, including the Section 87A rebate if applicable, plus 4% Health and Education Cess.
If you want to sanity-check the final number yourself, run the same inputs through our income tax calculator — it applies the same slabs, rebate and cess for FY 2025-26.
Five things to cross-check before you file
These are the checks that prevent almost every avoidable notice:
- PAN is correct. A single wrong character means the TDS was credited to someone else — or nobody. Verify it letter by letter.
- Part A TDS matches Form 26AS. The quarter-wise figures in Part A should appear identically in your Form 26AS. If they do not, your employer has not filed the TDS return correctly.
- Exempt allowances match your rent proofs. If HRA exemption appears in Part B, make sure you actually submitted the rent receipts and can produce them if asked. Our HRA guide explains the three-way minimum formula.
- Every 80C item is genuinely yours. Employers sometimes carry forward last year's declaration. Confirm each investment actually happened in FY 2025-26.
- Income from previous employers is included. If you changed jobs during the year, you will have two Form 16s. Your new employer only knows about the salary they paid unless you declared the earlier one — which is the single most common cause of an unexpected tax demand.
Form 16 vs Form 16A vs Form 26AS
These three get confused constantly, so to be precise:
- Form 16 — TDS certificate for salary, issued by your employer.
- Form 16A — TDS certificate for non-salary income such as FD interest, rent, professional fees or commission, issued by whoever made the payment.
- Form 26AS — the consolidated statement from the department showing all tax credited against your PAN from every source. It is the master record that everything else must reconcile to.
Think of Form 16 and 16A as the individual receipts, and 26AS as the bank statement that all of them must add up to.
Frequently asked questions
What is Form 16?
Form 16 is the TDS certificate your employer issues for a financial year. It certifies how much salary was paid to you and how much tax was deducted at source and deposited with the government against your PAN. It has two parts: Part A (the TDS summary, generated from the TRACES portal) and Part B (the detailed salary and deduction annexure prepared by your employer).
When should I receive Form 16?
Employers must issue Form 16 by 15 June following the end of the financial year. For FY 2025-26, that means by 15 June 2026. If you have not received it by then, ask your payroll team — you cannot download it yourself, only your employer can generate it from TRACES.
What is the difference between Part A and Part B of Form 16?
Part A is generated by the TRACES portal and shows your and your employer's PAN and TAN, the assessment year, the period of employment, and a quarter-wise summary of TDS deducted and deposited. Part B is prepared by your employer and is the detailed working: gross salary, exempt allowances such as HRA and LTA, the standard deduction, deductions claimed under Chapter VI-A, taxable income and the final tax computed.
What is the difference between Form 16 and Form 16A?
Form 16 is only for salary income. Form 16A is the TDS certificate for non-salary payments — such as bank interest, professional fees, rent or commission. If your bank deducted TDS on fixed deposit interest, you will receive Form 16A from the bank, not Form 16.
Can I file my ITR without Form 16?
Yes. Form 16 is a convenience, not a legal requirement for filing. You can reconstruct the same figures from your monthly payslips, your Form 26AS and your AIS. What matters is that the income and TDS you report match what the department already has on record against your PAN.
What if there is a mismatch between Form 16 and Form 26AS?
Do not ignore it. A mismatch usually means your employer deducted TDS but has not yet filed or correctly reported the TDS return, so the credit is not showing against your PAN. Raise it with your employer and ask them to file a correction — if you claim credit that is not reflected in 26AS, the CPC will likely disallow it and raise a demand.
Official sources
Every figure and rule in this guide is checked against the official government sources below. Always confirm for your own situation before filing.