Form 16 is a very vital information required to file your Income Tax Return (ITR) every year. An employer issues this Form. It contains the evidence of TDS which is deducted from your salary and deposited with authorities. Notably, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the date for issuing of Form 16 for employers to July 10, 2019, for assessment year 2019-20 (FY 2018-19). Generally, this Form is issued on or before June 15 of every year. However, there can be a situation where you have not received your Form 16, in such cases not many are aware how to file their ITR at Income Tax Department. The due date for filing your income tax return is 31 July 2019. 

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Archit Gupta, Founder & CEO ClearTax said, "Form 16 is an essential document to file your salary income in your income tax return. Form 16 is the annual salary TDS certificate given by your employer. In most cases, your employer would furnish your Form 16 to you. However, if you have not received your Form  16, you would be confused about how to proceed with your income tax filing."

"The employer will have to pay a penalty for default in the issue of Form 16. However, the onus of filing timely tax returns is on you and you must file your income tax return within the due date of 31 July 2019," added Gupta.

If you are in such situation where do not have Form 16, then here's  a guide on how to file your ITR in the absence of Form 16 and claim credit for TDS on salary, as per Gupta.

1. Collate your salary details from your monthly payslips

Compute your gross monthly salary and allowances from your payslips. If you have changed jobs during the year, then you have to aggregate the salary from all your payslips from all the employers. 

2. Claim for allowances such as HRA etc

You may be paying rent to your landlord for your residence and receiving House Rent Allowance (HRA) from their employer. In case you have missed furnishing rent receipts to your employer and claim HRA exemption, you can still claim it at the time of filing of your income tax return. For help in computing your HRA exemption, you can take the assistance of tax filing platforms.  

3. Claim standard deduction and professional tax

You can claim a standard deduction of Rs 40,000 against your salary income, and a deduction for professional tax paid by your employer as calculated from your payslips.

4. Income from other sources

In case you have any other income such as interest from bank - savings and Fixed Deposits, you have to declare such income in addition to your salary income in the income tax return. 

5. Declaration and disclosure from house property

Also, in case of house property you own, you must declare your income from the house property, if any. In case your house property is self-occupied, you can declare ‘nil’ value. Do keep your housing loan certificate handy for claiming interest payments towards housing loan. 

6. Claim deductions for investments etc.

You can claim a deduction up to Rs 1.5 lakh for investments made in PPF, provident fund contributions, LIC premium paid, housing loan repayments etc. You can also claim deductions for medical insurance premium payments, donations etc. 

While claiming a deduction for Provident Fund, do note that you can claim only your contribution to the PF and not your employers' contribution to PF. Also, there are various other tax allowances and deductions salaried can claim at the time of filing of their income tax return.

7. Form 26AS 

You can download your form 26AS which is your annual TDS summary statement from your log-in on the income-tax e-filing website. You can calculate your TDS on salary from your payslips and compare with the TDS in your Form 26AS. You are eligible to claim the TDS as a credit against your tax payable on your total income. 

In case you find any discrepancy between the TDS as per monthly payslips and Form 26AS, you can contact your employer for rectification of the error. 

8. Pay your tax dues

After aggregating your incomes, calculating tax payable and claiming credit for TDS, if there is any balance tax payable, you should pay the balance as ‘self-assessment tax’ before submitting your income tax return.

9. File your income tax return

After reporting of all your incomes, claiming your deductions and paying the tax dues, you should submit your income tax return. Further to the submission of the return, you should complete the filing by either e-verification of the return or submission of a hard copy acknowledgement to Centralised processing centre, Bengaluru.