Frequently asked question on Annual Tax Statement (ATS)

What is the annual tax statement?

The annual tax statement is a list that contains
 details about all the tax deducted at source (TDS)
or tax collected at source (TCS) for a particular
permanent account number. This amount may
 be deducted either by an employer in case of
 salaried individuals or by bank for fixed deposits, etc.

The ATS will tell you the amount deducted as tax for
your PAN in a particular year. So, if tax has been
deducted by someone in 2008-09, the letter from
 TIN will state ATS for Assessment Year 2009-10
 (when you pay taxes for income earned between
April 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009).

TIN creates the statement based on the information
submitted by the organisations who have deducted
tax from the money paid to you. The information
contained there has to be verified by you.

When do I get the statement?

You would have received a similar mail from TIN
of National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) earlier,
when your company or bank filed its returns.
Companies usually file returns beforeindividuals .
So, if a company, your employer or your bank cuts tax
 before paying you ther amount due, the same would be
mentioned in the company’s returns. The first ATS would
have landed in your account during March-April 2009.

The second one would be sent to you after you file
your income-tax return, the deadline for which was July 31.
This second statement would also containthe tax that you paid in excess to the one deducted by banks or employers.

What to do with the ATS?

You need to check this document thoroughly and
ensure that all the tax paid by you is reflected with
an ‘F’ (meaning final) mentioned in the ’status’ column.
The ATS has three parts — the tax deducted at source
(TDS) in Part A and the tax collected at source (TCS) in
 Part B. When you deposit tax in a bank as self-assessment
or advance tax via a challan, the same would be reflected in Part C.

The status of the tax credit too would be mentioned besides
 the tax entry, using three letters — P for provisional,
U for unmatched and F for final.

A provisional status means the tax paid has been shown
 because the organisation that deducted your tax mentioned
it in its returns. This would turn to final on verification.

Thedetails you submit in your returns need to match with
the ones submitted by your tax deductor or collector.

Unmatched would mean the deductor has not yet deposited
the taxes or has provided incorrect details of tax payment.
Sometimes, a final status will not appear if the payment
 details in the bank don’t match the details of deposit in
the TDS or TCS return, or if your employer has not yet
submitted the tax cut from your salary.

When and why was this exercise started?

This mailer is being sent to most tax-payers since the
past two years, when the income-tax department moved
to a separate system of filing and submitting returns without
any attachments such as Form 16, TDS certificates, etc.

As there was no proof of tax deducted or collected,
 with the income-tax department, they were finding
it difficult to process the returns.

Hence, the ATS was initiated to tell individuals about
the tax credited under their permanent account number.
It is claimed that the process would help the I-T department
 process returns faster like in the US, where refunds are given
 to theindividuals within two months’ time.

This year, the income-tax department claims that between
April 2009 and July 2009, they have given out refunds worth
Rs 20,768 crore, which is 53% more than Rs 13,542 crore
 given out during the same period last year.

Why should you check the ATS?

The statement will be referred to by the income-tax
department while processing your income tax return.
So, if the data provided by you doesn’t match that
provided by deductors, then your return won’t be
accepted until it is corrected. Only the deductor has
the right to correct the ATS data, not the individual
on whom the data has been entered.
The ATS sent for this assessment year notes
“The statement is being sent to enable you to
 take up the matter pertaining to any deficiencies
 in your statement with your deductor at the time
of taking the TDS certificate( s) at the end of the
financial year. This would also ensure that complete
and correct tax credit is available to you at the time of
 filing of the income-tax return for the assessment year 2009-10.”

Why could there be discrepancies in the ATS?

Your tax credit could be erroneous if the deductor
or collector has not filed its quarterly TDS/TCS return,
 or has either not quoted or wrongly quoted your PAN
in its return. It may also happen if the deductor has not
paid the required TDS to the government account.
If you have not provided your PANdetails, the
employer or bank may not be able to submit your
tax details as PAN is mandatory for submission.
 In case of any such errors, you must persuade the
deductor to rectify the mistake.

If you don’t correct it…

Tax credits would be given to you only
on the basis of the tax statement.
The income-tax department has stated:
“The same (tax credit) should be verified before
claiming tax credit and only the amount which
 pertains to you should be claimed.” NSDL
will send you a fresh tax statement after the
deductor corrects the data provided earlier.

Whom to contact in case of queries?

In case you are still have queries on the ATS,
you can call 020-2721 8080 or contact NSDL
via fax at 91-20-2721 8081 or email them at
reply@nsdl.co. in or tininfo@nsdl. co.in

Do you have to register to get ATS?

If you have not been getting ATS and want register
 or see the tax credits given to you, you can register
 for the same.

Details are available at www.incometaxindia.gov.in and www.tin-nsdl.com .