Waiting For Form 16? Here’s How to File Your ITR Without It

The Income Tax Department has notified all the ITR forms for the financial year 2024-25 (Assessment Year 2025–26) for the annual ITR filing.

The due date to file the income tax returns (ITRs) has now been extended to September 15 by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Taxpayers, who did not need their accounts to be audited, were required to file ITRs by July 31, earlier.

As the ITR filing for AY 2025-26 kicks off, salaried individuals might have to wait until mid-June to file ITRs since employers are yet to issue Form 16. This essential document for salaried taxpayers is generally issued in June by employers.

Form 16 will provide details of salary and TDS, along with other tax-related information for financial year 2024-25.

What is Form 16?

In order to file error-free ITR, an individual is required to have several documents. However, for salaried taxpayers, Form 16 is the most crucial document.

Issued by employers, Form 16 provides information regarding the employee's salary and tax deducted at source (TDS) for a particular financial year. This proves that the employer has deducted TDS and submitted the same to the I-T department. Those who have shifted from one company to another are required to collect this form from all employers.

It is divided into two parts. Part A gives information regarding taxes deducted and deposited by the employer for each quarter. It features personal details of the employee, such as name, address, and Permanent Account Number (PAN).

Part B offers a detailed breakdown of the salary and deductions of an employee and serves as an annexure to Part A.

Filing ITR Without Form 16

Although salaried individuals usually wait until their Form 16 gets released, they can still continue with the time-consuming exercise taking into considerations the modifications in ITR forms.

This means employees whose Form 16 gets delayed or remains unavailable can file their ITR by collecting details about the tax paid, total income and tax-saving investments.

You can use salary slips to check your earnings, Form 26AS to verify TDS details and the Annual Information Statement (AIS) for a complete financial summary.

Bank statements can also help track income and tax deductions. Before filing, make sure to verify all details in Form 26AS and AIS to avoid discrepancies.

Here's a complete list of alternative documents that you can use without Form 16:

1. Salary slips & bank statements

2. House rent evidence & leave travel allowances

3. TDS certificate from banks

4. Home & education loan payment certificates

5. Investment proofs for deductions

6. Form 26AS

Salaried individuals can calculate their total income through salary slips for FY 2024-25. Make sure that this includes income from all other sources. From the Income Tax e-filing portal, you can download Form 26AS to verify TDS details.

Filing ITR for FY25 without Form 16 is not difficult, but it needs careful calculation to avoid errors. If you want to file ITR without waiting for the Form 16, it's advisable to make all the calculations about total taxable income, tax paid and deductions before visiting the e-filing portal of the I-T Department.