Form 26AS — Annual Tax Statement Guide and Download FY 2025-26

Form 26AS — Annual Tax Statement Guide and Download FY 2025-26

Form 26AS is the official tax-credit ledger the income-tax department maintains against your PAN. For FY 2025-26 (Assessment Year 2026-27), it consolidates every rupee of tax deducted at source (TDS), tax collected at source (TCS), advance tax deposited, self-assessment tax paid, and refunds issued — all in one downloadable statement. If you are filing your ITR this season, Form 26AS is not optional reading; it is the baseline against which the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) reconciles your return before processing any refund or raising a demand.

What Is Form 26AS and Why It Still Matters in 2026

When the Annual Information Statement (AIS) was rolled out in late 2021, many taxpayers assumed Form 26AS would become obsolete. It has not. The two documents answer different questions.

AIS tells you what income was reported against your PAN by banks, mutual funds, brokers, employers and other third parties. Form 26AS tells you what tax was actually deposited with the government and linked to your PAN. These are distinct ledgers, and a mismatch between them — income reported in AIS but no corresponding TDS in 26AS, for instance — is exactly the kind of flag that triggers a Section 143(1)(a) adjustment or a Section 148A inquiry.

The Assessing Officer, the CPC, and the Compliance Portal all pull Form 26AS as the first document of reference. It should be the first document you pull too, well before the ITR filing deadline of 31 July 2026 for non-audit cases (AY 2026-27).

Anatomy of Form 26AS: What Each Part Contains

Form 26AS is structured into seven distinct parts. Understanding each one prevents you from misreading a blank field as "no activity."

Part A — TDS on Non-Property Income

This is the most-used section. It lists TDS deducted by your employer on salary, by banks on fixed-deposit interest, by tenants paying rent above Rs. 50,000 per month (under Section 194-IB), by companies on professional fees or contractual payments (Section 194J / 194C), and by buyers of securities. Each row shows the deductor's name, TAN, the amount paid or credited to you, the TDS deducted, and — critically — the TDS deposited to the government. A deductor can deduct TDS from your payment and still fail to deposit it; that mismatch will show in this column and will prevent you from claiming credit.

Part A1 — TDS Where 15G/15H Was Submitted

If you submitted a Form 15G (individuals below 60 years) or Form 15H (senior citizens) to your bank declaring nil taxable income, those transactions appear here. These are not a credit — they are declarations. If your actual income makes you taxable, these entries become the department's evidence that you received the income without TDS being deducted.

Part A2 — TDS on Sale of Immovable Property

If you sold a property during FY 2025-26 for more than Rs. 50 lakh, the buyer was required to deduct 1% TDS under Section 194-IA and deposit it via Form 26QB. Your credit for that TDS appears in Part A2 of your Form 26AS. A blank Part A2 when you sold a property is a red flag — either the buyer did not deduct, deducted under a wrong PAN, or has not yet filed Form 26QB.

Part B — TCS Collected

Tax Collected at Source (TCS) appears here. Common triggers for FY 2025-26: purchase of a motor vehicle above Rs. 10 lakh (1% TCS under Section 206C(1F)), overseas remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme above Rs. 7 lakh (20% TCS under Section 206C(1G) for non-education purposes after the 2023 amendment), and purchase of foreign tour packages. TCS is a credit against your tax liability just like TDS.

Part C — Advance Tax and Self-Assessment Tax

Every challan you paid through the tax portal — whether quarterly advance tax (September, December, March deadlines) or self-assessment tax at filing time — appears here with the BSR code, challan serial number, and deposit date. If a challan you paid does not appear, the remedy is to verify through the OLTAS (Online Tax Accounting System) inquiry on the NSDL-TIN portal and then raise a correction request.

Part D — Refunds

Refunds processed during the financial year, including the assessment year and the amount, are listed here. This is useful for verifying whether a refund was actually issued versus merely claimed in a prior return.

Part E — Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) High-Value Entries

Banks, mutual fund houses, registrars and transfer agents, and other reporting entities file SFT returns under Section 285BA. Entries in Part E flag high-value transactions: cash deposits above Rs. 10 lakh in savings accounts, fixed-deposit investments exceeding Rs. 10 lakh, credit-card payments above Rs. 1 lakh in cash or Rs. 10 lakh overall, and mutual fund purchases above Rs. 10 lakh. Part E does not represent tax — it is intelligence data the department uses to verify whether you have declared the underlying income.

Step-by-Step: How to Download Form 26AS for AY 2026-27

The download process runs through two portals — the income-tax e-filing portal and TRACES (TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System). Here is the exact sequence as of May 2026.

Via the Income-Tax e-Filing Portal (incometax.gov.in)

1. Log in at incometax.gov.in using your PAN as user ID.
2. Go to e-File → Income Tax Returns → View Form 26AS. (On the new MCA V3-style interface, this path may also appear under Annual Tax Statement.)
3. Read and accept the disclaimer. The portal redirects you automatically to TRACES.
4. On TRACES, you are already logged in. Select View Tax Credit (Form 26AS) from the top menu.
5. Choose the Assessment Year: for FY 2025-26, select AY 2026-27.
6. Select the format — HTML to view on screen, PDF or Text to download.
7. For PDF downloads, the password is your PAN in lowercase + date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. Example: for PAN ABCDE1234F with DOB 15 March 1985, the password is abcde1234f15031985.
8. Save the file; note the download timestamp for your records.

Via TRACES Directly (tdscpc.gov.in)

If you are a deductor, tax professional, or need to download on behalf of a client, log in directly to tdscpc.gov.in with your TRACES credentials. The path is Statements / Payments → Form 26AS → select PAN and Assessment Year.

AIS Portal (AIS for Taxpayer App or ais.incometax.gov.in)

Form 26AS is also accessible through the AIS portal. Navigate to Tax Information within the AIS module to view the same credit data in a more interactive format alongside AIS entries.

Form 26AS vs AIS vs TIS: How to Use Each Before Filing

These three documents serve different purposes and must be read together, not interchangeably.

The critical rule: always report income at least equal to what the TIS shows. If TIS shows interest income of Rs. 1,12,000 from savings and FD accounts and you report only Rs. 80,000, the system will generate a deficiency notice under Section 143(1)(a). If the difference is because the TIS figure is wrong, submit feedback in the AIS portal before filing — that way the TIS value is corrected and your ITR matches the corrected figure.

How to Reconcile Form 26AS with Your Documents: A Practical Checklist

Run through this checklist line by line before you lock your ITR for AY 2026-27.

Salary TDS (Part A)

• Compare the TDS figure in Part A against the TDS shown on your Form 16 Part A (issued by employer).
• Both figures should be identical. If your employer changed payroll software mid-year or filed a correction TDS return after 31 May 2026, there may be a lag. Do not file until they match.

Interest TDS (Part A)

• List all fixed deposits, recurring deposits, and bonds. Multiply total interest by 10% (standard TDS rate) to estimate expected TDS.
• Cross-check against TDS certificates in Form 16A from each bank.
• Banks often quote a corporate PAN for NRI accounts or a branch PAN. Verify your individual PAN is quoted correctly.

Property Sale TDS (Part A2)

• If you sold immovable property above Rs. 50 lakh, Part A2 must show TDS = 1% of sale consideration.
• Example: sold a flat for Rs. 85,00,000 → expected TDS = Rs. 85,000. Verify the buyer filed Form 26QB correctly. Request the buyer's Form 16B (generated from TRACES) as documentary proof.

Advance Tax Challans (Part C)

• Match each challan BSR code and serial number against your payment receipts.
• If you paid Rs. 50,000 in advance tax in September 2025 and Part C is blank, check the OLTAS inquiry on TIN-NSDL before assuming the challan is lost.

TCS on Purchases (Part B)

• If you bought a car above Rs. 10 lakh or remitted foreign exchange, verify TCS is credited.

Worked Example: Catching a Rs. 47,500 Mismatch Before It Becomes a Demand

Arjun is a self-employed architect in Bengaluru. For FY 2025-26, he received professional fees from three clients. Before filing, he downloads Form 26AS for AY 2026-27.

Client C deducted TDS from Arjun's invoice but quoted an incorrect PAN (one digit transposed) when filing the quarterly TDS return (Form 26Q for Q3 FY 2025-26). The TDS of Rs. 47,500 exists in the government's ledger — but under a PAN that does not belong to Arjun.

What happens if Arjun files without fixing this? He claims Rs. 47,500 as TDS credit in his ITR. The CPC cross-references his PAN and finds no matching credit. It issues an intimation under Section 143(1)(a) adding back the uncredited TDS and raising a demand of Rs. 47,500 plus interest under Section 234B (if his final tax payable then exceeds Rs. 10,000). Even if Arjun wins the dispute later, processing the rectification under Section 154 takes 3-6 months and delays any refund on other credits.

What Arjun should do instead:

1. Contact Client C's accounts team immediately and ask them to verify the PAN quoted in their TDS return filed for Q3.
2. Client C files a correction TDS return (revised Form 26Q) through TRACES, updating the correct PAN.
3. Once the correction is processed (typically 7-15 working days), Arjun's 26AS is updated and the Rs. 47,500 credit appears in Part A.
4. Only then does Arjun file his ITR — with full credit and no discrepancy.

The cost of this delay: perhaps two weeks. The cost of not doing it: a demand notice, interest, and months of follow-up.

Common Mistakes and Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Filing the ITR before the 26AS is stable TDS returns for Q4 (January–March 2026) are due by 31 May 2026. If your deductor files late or corrects an earlier return, your 26AS changes after you have already filed. Check the "Last Updated" timestamp on TRACES before treating your download as final. Wait until mid-June at the earliest before filing if you expect Q4 credits.

2. Trusting Form 16 without cross-checking Part A Your employer's Form 16 Part A is generated from TRACES and should match Part A of your 26AS. However, if the employer filed a revised TDS return after issuing Form 16, the TRACES data updates but the paper Form 16 you hold does not. Always reconcile against the live 26AS, not just the PDF Form 16 in your hands.

3. Ignoring Part A1 (15G/15H declarations) If your FD interest is above Rs. 2,50,000 but you submitted Form 15G because you projected no tax liability — and then actually earned more — the department sees a 15G declaration on income that should have been taxed. This is not technically a crime, but it is a reconciliation flag. Ensure you include all income declared under 15G/15H in your ITR.

4. Overlooking Part E SFT entries A Part E entry does not mean you owe tax on it — it means the department knows about the transaction. If you deposited Rs. 12 lakh in a savings account from a property sale that is already declared in your ITR, fine. If the Rs. 12 lakh has no corresponding entry in your return, expect a compliance notice.

5. Using the wrong assessment year in TRACES Form 26AS is organized by Assessment Year, not Financial Year. FY 2025-26 → AY 2026-27. A surprisingly common error is downloading AY 2025-26 (which covers FY 2024-25) and reconciling it against this year's Form 16. The amounts may look plausible but the credits will not match.

6. Assuming a deductor will "sort it out" without follow-up Deductors — especially small businesses — often file TDS returns through an accountant who may not prioritize corrections. Put correction requests in writing (email), quote the TAN and the specific quarter, and follow up with a second email after 10 working days. If the deductor is unresponsive, raise a grievance through the e-Nivaran module on the income-tax portal; select TDS Credit not reflecting in Form 26AS as the category.

What to Do When 26AS Shows a Discrepancy

Here is the resolution hierarchy, in order of speed.

Step 1 — Contact the deductor directly Call or email the deductor's accounts payable or TDS filing team. Provide your PAN, the quarter, the amount, and the TDS certificate number if available. Ask them to check the PAN quoted in their filed TDS return. Most genuine errors (wrong PAN digit, wrong amount) can be corrected by the deductor filing a correction statement through TRACES.

Step 2 — Verify on TRACES Justification Report On TRACES, you can pull a 26AS Justification Report which shows exactly which TDS return lines are feeding your credit. This tells you the deductor's TAN, the return period, and the challan details — giving you precise information to hand the deductor's accountant.

Step 3 — Raise a grievance on the e-Nivaran portal Log in to incometax.gov.in, go to Grievance → Submit Grievance → select TDS/TCS Credit Not Reflecting. Attach your Form 16A, bank statements, or contract invoices as documentary evidence. The grievance is assigned to the jurisdictional Assessing Officer or the CPC depending on the nature of the discrepancy.

Step 4 — File the ITR and claim credit with disclosure If the deductor is unresponsive and the filing deadline is imminent, file the ITR claiming only the TDS credit that actually appears in 26AS. Do not claim credit for TDS the deductor deducted but did not deposit — that is a credit you are not legally entitled to until the government ledger shows it. Once the correction is processed post-filing, file a rectification request under Section 154 to claim the additional credit and secure the refund.

Key Takeaways

• Form 26AS is a tax-credit ledger, not an income ledger. AIS and TIS capture income; 26AS captures the tax deposited against your PAN. You need all three before filing.
• Download 26AS in mid-June 2026, after the 31 May Q4 TDS return deadline, to ensure all Q4 credits have been processed and the statement is stable.
• Password for PDF download: PAN in lowercase + DOB in DDMMYYYY format (e.g., abcde1234f01011980).
• A missing TDS entry is almost always a deductor error — wrong PAN, wrong quarter, or unfiled correction return. The fix lies with the deductor, not with you.
• Part A2 is non-negotiable if you sold property above Rs. 50 lakh. No Part A2 credit means the buyer either did not deduct or filed Form 26QB with incorrect PAN. Chase it before filing.
• Part E SFT entries do not create a tax liability, but every entry without a matching ITR disclosure is a potential compliance notice. Account for each one in your return.
• A discrepancy left unresolved at filing costs more than the delay of fixing it — expect a Section 143(1) intimation, interest under Sections 234B/234C, and a multi-month rectification process that holds up your refund.