Details to know about your Form 16A

Arnav Pandya

A lot of people experience a situation where they face a Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) from their banks. The amount here is usually deducted on the interest on their fixed deposits and at the end of the day the bank has to issue a TDS certificate in Form 16A to the individual so that they are able to file their necessary tax returns and collect their refund or the right credit for the taxes that has been deducted from their income. However in many cases there have been a lot of complaints that the banks are not issuing the TDS certificates on time and hence there is some action that is required to get them to comply with the requirements. The Reserve Bank of India has now acted on the matter and asked banks to be prompt in completing the various requirements and here is a look at the entire issue.

Form 16AIf there is a tax that is deducted at source then the bank has to provide a TDS certificate for each quarter to the individual. This is in Form 16A and hence the individual should know that in most cases the certificate is referred to by its number and they have to be familiar with this aspect of the entire working. There is a specific format for the form which will show the amount of the deposit or other investment and the income that would arise on this aspect from the entire investment along with the tax that has been deducted. This will clearly show the figure of both the income and the tax deducted making it easy for the individual to ensure that they are able to include the figures in their tax workings. This is important because apart from the interest that is actually paid out and belongs to that particular year there are occasions when some income or interest is accrued but not received and hence this figure will also be available from the Form 16A

Systems in placeThe RBI has advised the banks that they should ensure that there is a system in place that has been placed so that the form 16A can be issued in time. The emphasis is on the system so that there is no disruption to the entire process for the individual and that they are able to get the required information on time. The first thing to do for the bank is to ensure that they actually give the Form 16A to the depositor and the other point is that this should be given on time. There are a lot of cases where the individual has to do a lot of running around to get this form and this needs to be avoided. Even the information provided here has to be correct and this needs to be properly filled in so that claiming the amount as a credit does not become a problem as in several cases the details of the certificate and the income tax records do not match.

Not wait till the last momentThere are a lot of situations where the individual finds that the bank does not act promptly but waits right till the time of the end of the year for the giving of the form16A. RBI has also cracked down on this practice and asked the banks to ensure that they are able to give the certificate early and not wait till the last moment to complete the requirement. This will provide another bit of relief for the individual because they will get the information on time so any tax planning that they need to do could be completed easily and in time. This will also aid their efforts to make the entire process smooth and easy to complete.