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YOU would have recently seen some TV commercials or advertisement in newspapers for depositing your advance tax. Taxes can be paid in various forms like TDS, advance tax or self assessment tax.

Tax paid should ideally match with the income-tax department's records to avoid unnecessary questioning later. However, it is possible that inadvertently tax were not deposited by the deductor or correct PAN was not mentioned in the TDS returns, which may result in a notice from the tax department asking to pay additional taxes. In order to avoid such kind of issues, the income-tax department has put in place a system of Form 26AS, whereby, you can verify the tax deposited before submitting the tax return. If used regularly, taxpayers can ensure that there is no mismatch of data.

What is Form 26AS?

Form 26AS is a statement that provides details of taxes paid against your PAN in any financial year. Some relevant parts of the form are highlighted below:

■ Part A – Details of TDS

■ Part B – Details of tax collected at source (TCS)

■ Part C – Details of tax paid other than TDS or TCS

■ Part D – Details of refund

■ Part E – Details of AIR transaction How to access Form 26AS? You can view the tax credit statement, that is, Form 26AS, by registering your

PAN at http://www. incometaxindia.gov.in/ Upon successful login and filling the verification details, you can view the tax credit details for any financial year. The same can also be accessed by registering the PAN with NSDL or through net banking facility offered by some banks.

Advantages of verifying your tax credit: A regular review of Form 26AS ensures that taxes are correctly deposited against your PAN. If the Form 26AS amount matches with the corresponding amount in your personal tax return, it may also lead to faster processing of your return and issue of refunds, if any.

Corrective measures: In case of tax credit mismatch, you can immediately request the employer/bank, to revise the TDS returns. If you have paid advance tax/self assessment tax, then you need to intimate the bankers who may have defaulted in uploading the data with the tax department. You should keep following up with your employer/banker, so that correction is made in the system.

Recent court ruling: Mismatch between taxes deducted and corresponding data submitted is an error that is now commonly seen.

Recently, the high court has ordered that taxpayer should not suffer for this and the tax authorities must take up the issue with tax deductors. This is a welcome relief for many where the tax deductor has made a mistake in uploading the information.

Your regular reviews of Form 26AS will keep you updated on the amount of taxes paid and also help in avoiding any unnecessary notice from the income-tax department later.