Employer after deducting income tax from employee’s salary should issue a certificate disclosing all the details of tax deducted with Challan number and date of deposits. As per the tax provisions this certificate has to be issued before 31st May of the assessment year i.e. for the financial year 2013-2014 form 16 has to be issued on or before 31st may 2014.
In case employee has lost form 16 or misplaced somewhere then on employee’s request a duplicate form 16 should be issued to the employee.
These are mandatory provisions which each and every employer responsible for deducting TDS has to compulsorily follow.
Employee after getting form 16 should match it with form 26AS and file their tax return. Without form 16 employees cannot claim income tax credit for the amount that is deposited with IT department by the employer.
In case your employer has not issued form 16 before the due date of 31st may or refused to issue TDS certificate to you, then your employer will be liable for a penalty up to Rs. 100 per day. But this penalty amount cannot be imposed by you. It has to be initiated by the IT department.
In cases where, employer has refused or has not issued you From 16 then you can complain about it to the employer’s assessing officer in writing. Based on your complain assessing officer will take appropriate actions and can initiate penalty proceeding against the employer. However employer is not required to issue form 16 in case no tax has been deducted from your salary. Form 16 will be issued only if tax has been deducted and deposited to IT department by your employer.
In case employee did not receive form 16 from employer then he can still file his tax return by downloading form 26AS online from tax website or from any of his net banking website. All the details that are required to file your tax return will be available in form 26AS.
