Income tax department updates Form 26AS, now includes mutual fund purchases, foreign remittances and more

• The income tax department has updated the Form 26AS.
• It will now include mutual fund purchases, foreign remittances, interest on income tax refund and more.
• Here are all the new inclusions in the Form 26AS.

India’s income tax department has updated the Form 26AS to include more information such as off-market transactions, mutual fund purchases, foreign remittances and more.

This is aimed at helping the taxpayer file their returns correctly and assisting the department in detecting discrepancies in taxpayer’s returns.

What is Form 26AS?

Form 26AS, which is also called an annual information statement, is a consolidated annual tax statement that includes tax deducted at source (TDS), tax collected at source (TCS), advance tax paid and more. It is useful for an assessee while filing their income tax return (ITR) for the year as it can be used to auto-populate the ITR form.

In an order issued on October 26 under the 285BB of the Income Tax Act, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) expanded the scope of information that is reported in the new Form 26AS.

The CBDT order authorises the “Director General of Income-tax (Systems) to upload information...in her/his possession, in the Annual Information Statement in Form 26AS in the electronic filing account registered by the assessee in designated portal, within three months from the end of the month in which the information is received by her/him."

What are the new inclusions in Form 26AS?

• Foreign remittance information reported in Form 15CC.
  
• Information on TDS on salary contained in Annexure II of Form 24Q of the last quarter.
  
• Information in ITR of other taxpayers.
  
• Interest on income tax refund.
  
• Information in Form 61/61A where PAN could be populated.
  
• Off market transactions reported by Depository/Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA).
  
• Information about the dividend of mutual funds reported by the Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA).
  
• Information about purchase of mutual funds reported by the Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA).
  

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