How to File ITR With Form 16 for Salaried Employees

To file your income tax return with Form 16 as a salaried employee, choose your tax regime, pick the correct ITR form (usually ITR-1 or ITR-2), transfer the salary and TDS figures from Part A and Part B of your Form 16 into the corresponding fields on the e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in, submit the return, and complete e-verification within 30 days. For Assessment Year 2026-27, the new tax regime is the default, and salaried individuals with gross income up to ₹12.75 lakh effectively owe zero tax after the ₹75,000 standard deduction and the Section 87A rebate.1Press Information Bureau. No Income Tax on Annual Income Upto Rs 12 Lakh

What Your Form 16 Gives You

Form 16 is a TDS certificate issued by your employer under Section 203 of the Income Tax Act. Employers must provide it by June 15 of the assessment year, and you can usually download it from your company’s payroll portal or request it from HR after the financial year ends in March.

The certificate has two parts, and both matter for filing.

Part A is a government-certified summary of the tax your employer withheld and deposited. It carries the employer’s Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number (TAN), your PAN, and quarter-by-quarter TDS details. This is what you match against Form 26AS to confirm the department has actually received the tax on your behalf.

Part B is the salary breakdown. It shows basic pay, allowances, perquisites, exemptions claimed under Section 10, the standard deduction, and any Chapter VI-A deductions your employer factored in. Almost every figure you type into the return comes from Part B.

Get These Ready Before You Log In

A few things need to be in place before you open the e-filing portal. Fix them now and the filing itself takes twenty minutes.

  • PAN linked with Aadhaar. Section 139AA requires the linkage, and an unlinked PAN becomes inoperative, which blocks filing entirely. Late linkage carries a ₹1,000 fee.2Income Tax Department. Link Aadhaar FAQ
  • A pre-validated bank account. Only pre-validated accounts can receive refunds. Savings, current, NRO, and cash credit accounts qualify; loan and PPF accounts do not.3Income Tax Department. My Bank Account FAQs
  • Your Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) from the portal. These show income the department already knows about, such as bank interest, dividends, and stock trades. Cross-check them against Form 16 so nothing outside your salary gets missed.4Income Tax Department. FAQs on AIS (Annual Information Statement)
  • Investment proofs, if you plan to file under the old regime: insurance premium receipts, PPF passbook, ELSS statements, home loan interest certificates, and health insurance receipts.

Wrong PAN, Aadhaar, or bank details are the most common reason refunds get stuck for months. Verify them before you start.

Choose Your Tax Regime First

This is the decision that shapes everything else. The new regime has been the default since AY 2024-25 and remains the default for AY 2026-27. If you do nothing, you are filing under the new regime, and most Chapter VI-A deductions, including 80C, 80D, and 80TTA, are simply not available. The only Chapter VI-A deductions the new regime still permits are employer contributions to NPS under Section 80CCD(2), and deductions under 80CCH and 80JJAA.5Income Tax Department. FAQs on New Tax vs Old Tax Regime

The old regime is worth choosing if you have significant 80C investments, a home loan with meaningful Section 24 interest, or high 80D health insurance premiums. For most salaried employees with modest deductions, the new regime’s lower slab rates and ₹75,000 standard deduction come out ahead.

New Regime Slabs for AY 2026-27

  • Up to ₹4 lakh: Nil
  • ₹4 lakh to ₹8 lakh: 5%
  • ₹8 lakh to ₹12 lakh: 10%
  • ₹12 lakh to ₹16 lakh: 15%
  • ₹16 lakh to ₹20 lakh: 20%
  • ₹20 lakh to ₹24 lakh: 25%
  • Above ₹24 lakh: 30%

A Section 87A rebate of up to ₹60,000 makes taxable income up to ₹12 lakh effectively tax-free. Add the ₹75,000 standard deduction and the practical threshold for salaried filers is ₹12.75 lakh of gross income.1Press Information Bureau. No Income Tax on Annual Income Upto Rs 12 Lakh

Switching to the Old Regime

If you are a salaried employee without business income, you can select the old regime directly inside ITR-1 or ITR-2 while filling out the return. You can switch between regimes every year, as long as you file within the due date.6Income Tax Department. Form 10-IEA FAQ If you also have business or professional income, a separate Form 10-IEA route applies before filing, and switching back is restricted.

Pick the Right ITR Form

Most salaried filers use ITR-1 (Sahaj) or ITR-2. Getting this wrong blocks submission.

ITR-1 works if you are a resident individual with total income up to ₹50 lakh, and your income is limited to salary, one house property, family pension, agricultural income up to ₹5,000, long-term capital gains under Section 112A up to ₹1.25 lakh, and other sources such as savings or fixed deposit interest.7Income Tax Department. File ITR-1 (Sahaj) Online User Manual

ITR-2 covers everything else salaried filers commonly face: income above ₹50 lakh, capital gains beyond the ITR-1 limits, more than one house property, foreign income, or foreign assets. If you sold shares or mutual funds and the gains exceed the ITR-1 thresholds, you need ITR-2.

Fill In the Return

Once you have picked the regime and form, most of the work is copying numbers from Part B of Form 16 into the portal. The portal pre-fills some fields from your AIS, but verify each one against Form 16 before accepting it.

Salary Income

Enter the gross salary from Part B, which includes basic pay, dearness allowance, commissions, bonuses, and other taxable components. Subtract Section 10 exemptions such as HRA or leave travel concession. Apply the standard deduction: ₹75,000 under the new regime, ₹50,000 under the old. Perquisites like a company car or rent-free accommodation are already valued in Part B, so verify those numbers rather than recalculating them.

Income From Other Sources

Report interest from savings accounts, fixed deposits, and recurring deposits even if your employer did not include them in Form 16. Your AIS will show these. Under the old regime, Section 80TTA allows a deduction of up to ₹10,000 on savings account interest; under the new regime, it does not apply.

If you own a house, income or loss from that property goes into a separate section. Under the old regime, Section 24 home loan interest is deductible up to ₹2 lakh for a self-occupied property. Under the new regime, the ₹2 lakh interest deduction is available only for rented-out properties.

Chapter VI-A Deductions (Old Regime Only)

If you have opted for the old regime, this is where your investment-based tax savings apply. The figures should mirror what Part B of Form 16 shows.

  • Section 80C, up to ₹1.5 lakh: PPF, ELSS, life insurance premiums, EPF contributions, tuition fees, and home loan principal.
  • Section 80D, up to ₹25,000 for self and family: health insurance premiums. Add up to ₹50,000 for senior citizen parents, bringing the combined maximum to ₹75,000, or ₹1 lakh if you are also a senior citizen.
  • Section 80TTA, up to ₹10,000: savings account interest across all banks combined.

None of these apply under the new regime, apart from the narrow exceptions already noted. If you are filing under the new regime and see these fields pre-filled, zero them out or the tax calculation will be wrong.

Match TDS With Part A and Form 26AS

The TDS in your return must match Part A of Form 16 and Form 26AS, your consolidated tax credit statement. Mismatches are the leading trigger for automated notices. If the numbers do not line up, contact your employer’s payroll team before filing.

After all income and deductions are entered, the portal computes tax at the applicable slab rates. If TDS exceeds the liability, a refund appears; if it falls short, pay the balance through a challan before submitting.

Submit and E-Verify Within 30 Days

Log in at incometax.gov.in using your PAN as the user ID. Select Assessment Year 2026-27, choose your ITR form, confirm the regime, review pre-filled data, correct or add anything missing, and submit.

Submission alone does not count as filing. You have 30 days from submission to verify. Miss that window and the verification date becomes your filing date, which means late-filing consequences apply even if you originally submitted before July 31.8Income Tax Department. ITR-V FAQs

The digital verification options take seconds:

  • Aadhaar OTP sent to your UIDAI-registered mobile number.
  • Net banking through your bank’s login.
  • An Electronic Verification Code generated through a pre-validated bank or demat account.

If none of these are workable, you can print the ITR-V acknowledgment, sign it, and post it to CPC Bengaluru, but it must arrive within the same 30 days and is slower and less reliable.8Income Tax Department. ITR-V FAQs

Deadlines That Matter

  • July 31, 2026: due date for salaried individuals filing ITR-1 or ITR-2.
  • December 31, 2026: last date to file a belated return. The Section 234F late fee is ₹5,000 if taxable income exceeds ₹5 lakh, or ₹1,000 below that. It applies even if you owe no tax.
  • March 31, 2027: last date to file a revised return under Section 139(5) if you find errors.

Filing late also means you cannot switch to the old regime for that year if you have not already, and certain losses, such as capital losses, cannot be carried forward. July 31 is the deadline that governs everything else.

Fixing Mistakes After Filing

If you spot an error after submitting, file a revised return under Section 139(5) any time before March 31, 2027. Common triggers include forgetting interest income, entering the wrong refund bank account, or claiming a wrong exemption. Log in, select the same assessment year, choose “revised return” as the filing type, correct the entries, and verify again within 30 days.

One catch: a belated return filed after July 31 can still be revised before December 31, 2026, but a revised return cannot change your tax regime once the July 31 deadline has passed. Regime selection is locked at the original due date, which is one more reason to file on time.