All You Need to Know About Form 16A

If you have been a payroll employee in a company, you might know Form 16 or Form 16A. Form 16A will be issued to the taxpayer if they have a Tax deduction at the Source (TDS) component for their remuneration, commission, interest, rent and other income sources. 16A simply contains TDS deductions and the details of such TDS deposits made to the government on behalf of the assessee. 

Here are details on the 16A form, its meaning, applicability and downloading steps given below: 

What is Form 16A? 

So, what Form 16A means? Technically, Form 16A is a TDS certificate for your income other than salary. Form 16 is an income tax document that includes income only from salary. However, form 16A includes other incomes like income from other sources, i.e., ‘Income Other Than Salary’. Form 16 would apply to you only in case of certain specific income conditions. These conditions are as follows:

• Your annual income from salary exceeds the basic exemption limit (₹2.5 lacs) in a financial year. 
• Your income from other heads, along with your income from salary, is taken into consideration by your employer for tax consideration.
• Because you have worked for more than one employer in a year and have two or more Form 16 documents.

The employer will not deduct TDS if your salary is below the basic exemption limit. The employer might also not issue Form 16 in this case. Form 16A income tax is available in Form 26AS. 

What are Form 16A components? 

Form 16A is a kind of income statement that includes a number of components that the assessee needs to fill. These components are as follows: 

• Name of the taxpayer’s employer
• PAN and TAN details of the employer 
• Name, PAN and TAN details of the taxpayer (employee)
• Salary and other payment details
• Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) payment number 
• Tax amount deposited and the date of tax deposit 

All the above-specified details are also present in Form 26AS of the taxpayer. 

What is the difference between Form 16 and Form 16A? 

Form 16 and Form 16A are different in terms of their law, eligibility, applicability, issuer and recipient and the frequency of statement issuance.

Here is a table indicating how Form 16 and 16A are different.

Parameters	Form 16	Form 16A
Law	Governed by Section 203 of the Income Tax Act	Governed by Section 203 of the Income Tax Act
Eligibility	Salaried persons with TDS deducted	Self-employed individuals and professionals not covered by Form 16
Applicability	Interest earned on securities, dividend income, and more	Income earned as agents or on commission, rent, professional fees, hired machinery and more.
Issuing authority	Only the employer can issue	Financial institutions, banks, tenants and more are authorised to issue
Is issued against	Salaried persons with TDS deducted	Non-salaried individuals
Frequency of issuance	Is issued annually	Is issued quarterly

Form 16A Example 

Say the taxpayer has earned a sum of money by playing online games. Such an income is worth ₹15,000 for the financial year. 

Section 194 states that if such income type is above ₹10,000, it would attract 30 per cent TDS. 

Therefore, the taxpayer would receive a payment of ₹12,750 (₹15,000 minus 30% of ₹15,000). The amount ₹2250 would be deducted as TDS for the income. 

This TDS deduction of ₹2250 would be reflected in the taxpayer’s Form 16A. The taxpayer may or may not be able to claim returns for the same based on their salaried income tax slab. 

How to download Form 16A? 

Here is a simple step-by-step approach to downloading form 16A. 

• Visit Traces and log in using your credentials (User ID, Password). You can also use your PAN or TAN details and the CAPTCHA code. 
• Click the ‘Downloads’ tab and select Form 16A from the dropdown menu. 
• Now, select the financial year and quarter for which you wish to download Form 16A and click ‘Go’.
• Enter the authorised person’s details in the given boxes and complete KYC verification with or without DSC. 
• The ‘Success’ message will be visible now, and Form 16A will be available for download. 

Conclusion

Form 16A is essentially a TDS statement for ‘income other than salary’. It is similar to Form 16, which applies to income from salary and is governed by a similar law (Section 203 of the Income Tax Act). However, unlike Form 16, which is filed annually, Form 16A is to be filed every quarter.