India - No Form-16 needed

NEW DELHI: While filing tax return this year, you need not attach Form-16 with the form. In a statement on Friday, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said that annexures and certificates like Form-16, relating to tax deducted at source are not required for income tax returns filing. "No annexures, TDS/TCS certificates are required to be annexed to the returns of income." an official statement said. A senior CBDT official said that all informations regarding TDS are recorded in the PAN (permanent account number) data of a tax payer. He said the department collects data on TDS from various sources and keep it in the PAN data banks of tax payers. Therefore, he said, the tax payers should just provide the TDS informations in the specified column in the return form. If the figure provided in the return is not matched with the data collected in PAN, then the department would ask the tax payer to furnish the Form-16. The credit for TDS and tax collected at source (TCS) will be allowed on the basis of details furnished in the relevant schedules of the return forms. Assessing officer will not disallow claim in this regard (return against excess tax paid) only on the ground that the TDS/TCS certificates have not been filed along with the return of income, the statement said. Also, to enable tax-payers to file returns in the electronic mode, the new return forms have been made annexure-less, except ITR-7, which is the returns for trusts. The electronic return filed with electronic signature will be treated at par with a physical sign. In case of tax return filed without electronic signature, the department said, the tax payers will get an acknowledgement, which will have return receipt number. A tax official said the tax payer should send the acknowledgement to the department. He said only after receiving the acknowledgement form the tax payer, the assessing officer can assess return filed in the electronic form. The department also said a tax payer can make electronic payment of taxes from the account of any other person.