Form 16 is the certificate your employer gives you each year showing the salary it paid you and the tax it deducted and deposited on your behalf. It comes in two parts – Part A, the government-stamped record of TDS, and Part B, the detailed salary and tax computation – and it is the document you use to file your income tax return. Employers must issue it by 15 June following the financial year.
If tax was deducted from your salary, you are entitled to a Form 16. It turns a year of payslips into one signed summary the tax department already holds a copy of.
Form 16 at a glance
What is Form 16?
Form 16 is a TDS certificate issued under Section 203 of the Income Tax Act for tax deducted on salary. You get one per employer for each financial year, issued after the year ends, by 15 June. It is specific to salary – tax deducted on non-salary income comes on a different certificate, Form 16A.
An important caveat: if your employer deducted no tax – because your income was below the taxable limit – it may not issue a Form 16 at all. That is normal, and it does not stop you from filing.
What is in Part A?
Part A is generated and authenticated through the government's TRACES portal, so its figures are the department's own record. It contains:
- The employer's name, address, TAN and PAN.
- Your name, address and PAN.
- The assessment year and your period of employment.
- A quarter-by-quarter summary of salary paid and tax deducted and deposited, with challan references.
This is the part that proves your TDS actually reached the government. Because it comes from TRACES, the numbers here should match your Form 26AS to the rupee. If they do not, that is worth sorting out before you file.
What is in Part B?
Part B is an annexure your employer prepares, and it is where the real detail sits – the full computation of your taxable salary and tax:
- Gross salary, and allowances exempt under Section 10 such as HRA, LTA and gratuity.
- Deductions under Section 16 – the ₹50,000 or ₹75,000 standard deduction, and professional tax.
- Income chargeable under the head "Salaries", plus any other income you reported to the employer.
- Deductions under Chapter VI-A – 80C, 80D, 80CCD and the rest, if you filed under the old regime.
- Total taxable income, the tax on it, the Section 87A rebate, cess, any relief under Section 89, and finally the net tax payable or refundable.
If you changed jobs, each Part B covers only that employer's slice of the year.
How is Form 16 different from Form 16A and Form 26AS?
These three get muddled, so it is worth pinning down:
- Form 16 – TDS on your salary, from your employer.
- Form 16A – TDS on non-salary income such as interest, rent, or professional fees, from a bank or other deductor.
- Form 26AS (and the AIS) – the consolidated statement on the income tax portal listing all TDS from every source against your PAN.
Form 16 should tie out to Form 26AS. When they disagree, the mismatch usually means a deposit was mislabelled or missed, and chasing it before filing saves a notice later.
How do you use Form 16 to file your return?
Form 16 is the primary input for a salaried return. Most of Part B maps directly onto the ITR – salary, exemptions, deductions, and tax already paid. Cross-check every figure against Form 26AS and the AIS, add any income the employer never saw (savings interest, capital gains, a second job), and the return is largely built.
This is general information, not tax advice. Form and deadline details are current for FY 2026-27; rules can change in the annual Budget and depend on your own situation.
Related NYVO guides
- TDS on Salary: How It's Deducted – how your employer arrives at the tax figure that Form 16 later records.
- Income Tax Slabs in India – the rates behind the tax computation shown in Part B.
- Section 80D: Deduction on Health Insurance Premiums – one of the Chapter VI-A deductions that appears in Part B if you file under the old regime.
Form 16 looks dense, but it is really just two answers: how much you earned, and how much tax was already paid on it. Read Part A as proof and Part B as the working, match both to Form 26AS, and filing your return becomes mostly a matter of copying across.
