Income Tax Return 2024: What should you do if your Form 16 details don’t match with prefilled ITR form? (2024)

Ideally, your Form 16 details should match with that of ITR form because the Income Tax Department uses only the Form 16 data to pre-populate the form to be used by the taxpayer.

ITR Filing 2024: The income tax return filing season kicked off this year quite early in April, with the I-T department making available various ITR forms and excel utilities on the e-filing portal. But despite the Income Tax Department activating these forms and utilities to enable tax return filing, most taxpayers, including salaried individuals, have got into action now with around 40 days to go until the ITR deadline ends.

For salaried taxpayers, the tax season has started now in late June with most employers beginning to issue Form 16 to their employees. Under the income tax laws, employers deducting tax under sections 192-195 are required to issue a certificate to their employees confirming tax deduction, applicable tax rate, deducted amount and other relevant details. The certificate is widely known as Form 16.

For salaried individuals Form 16 serves many purposes as firstly it verifies that the TDS (tax deducted at source) is aligned with tax department’s records. Another thing the Form 16 does is that it pre-fills various details as per the PAN of the taxpayer. Form 16 enables a complete record keeping of tax information for taxpayers as well as for the income tax authorities for different financial years. But at times, taxpayers find that the TDS and income details mentioned in their Form 16 do not match with pre-filled ITR form at the time of income tax return filing.

Why does mismatch between Form 16 and pre-filled ITR take place?

Ideally, your Form 16 details should match with that of ITR form because the Income Tax Department uses only the Form 16 data to pre-populate the form to be used by the taxpayer. Still, at times mismatch and discrepancies arise between these two forms. Following may be the possible reasons behind the mismatch of data in two sets of documents:

Wrong Form 16 data: Even though employers take all precautions and engage professionals to prepare Form 16, there are always chances that there could be some incorrect calculations, lack of information, or missing data.

Delay in processing by employer: Companies usually transfer salaries and deposit tax with the Income Tax Department with a minimum gap period, but a delay might happen because of some reasons. If there is a delay in TDS deposit, it results in delay in data update by the tax department as well.

Delay in Form 16 data upload: If there is a delay in upload of Form 16 data in the Income Tax Department’s systems, it can result in a temporary mismatch of data and thus delayed processing in ITR form.

Wrong Form 16 format: If your employer has chosen a wrong format of Form 16, this could also result in a mismatch of data between the two forms because in such cases the pre-filling might not be supported by the data.

What should taxpayers do in case of a data mismatch between Form 16 and ITR Form?

Cross-check the details in Form 16 and the pre-filled sections of ITR to find discrepancies, if any. You should carefully check and verify Name, address, PAN, and TAN of the company in both Form 16 and pre-filled ITR documents.

If you find a mismatch, then you need to calculate all your major expenditures and investments. Investments like PPF, NPS, ELSS, insurance and ULIPs enjoy tax deduction benefits, while there are certain incomes like HRA, agri income, various allowances exempted altogether from tax liability.

In case of a mismatch in data, furnish the correct data after computing accurate numbers and file a request for issuance of a revised Form 16.

Once you have computed sources of income, deductions to be claimed and TDS already deducted, the final computation of income leads to two possible outcomes: either you’ve paid excess taxes or there’s still a tax amount payable. In case of excess taxes paid, you are entitled to a refund upon ITR filing. In the second scenario, where you owe taxes to the Income Tax Department, you will have to settle it by paying the differential amount.

Finally, if you find it too difficult to manage it yourself, you can seek help from a professional who will help you file your tax return correctly.