A financial year is about to end, you must have received a reminder about the submission of Income Tax Proof from your employer. Don’t forget to submit your tax-saving proof to your employer else more TDS will be deducted from your salary and you need to file a refund request.
Well, there are certain important points which you must remember while submitting Income Tax proofs to the employer. In this post, we will discuss Do’s and Don’ts while submitting Income Tax proof to the employer. We will also discuss what happens if you do not submit income tax proof.
Income Tax Proof Submission to Employer
Why Employer need your Income-tax saving proofs?
As per the mandatory requirement of Income Tax act, 1961 employer is responsible for deducting income tax from the salary of the employee. The income tax deducted by an employer is known as TDS (Tax deducted at Source). The TDS amount is required to be deposited to the Income Tax department. The payment of this tax is done electronically or using physical Challan. The deducted amount (TDS) is mentioned in Form16 as well as Form 26AS.
The tax computation and TDS deduction is person-specific and depends upon tax investment person make throughout the financial year. At the end of the year, employer asks for declaration and proofs and final TDS is based on the declaration.
The basic intention behind this process is to ensure that tax is deducted as per investment made by the employee.
Also Read – 15 Income Tax mistakes to avoid while filing ITR
What if you do not submit income tax proof?
Suppose you forgot to submit your income tax proof due to ignorance. In that case, a full salary amount would be considered by an employer for the TDS. As an effect more tax will be deducted from your March month salary. So, it will be considerably low compared to the actual amount.
Once TDS is deducted from your salary only option left with you is to file an income tax return and claim for the refund.
Documents to be submitted to the Employer
The documents required to be submitted as Income tax proof for various investment instruments are different. The details are given below.
Section 80 – Investment up to 1.5 Lakh
Life Insurance premium – Copy of premium payment receipt is required. You can submit proof for your life insurance taken for yourself as well as family members.
Public provident fund (PPF) – Copy of passbook or account statement along with cover page showing investor’s name. You can also submit copy of the deposit challan stamped by the bank.
NSC – Xerox Copy of NSC purchased during financial year.
ELSS (Equity Linked Saving Scheme) – Copy of Account statement issued by fund house.
Tax saving FD – Copy of fixed deposit receipt or account statement.
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana – Copy of passbook/statement along with first cover page showing investor’s name.
Tuition Fees – Copy of receipt for tuition fees for the financial year maximum of 2 children.
Home Loan Principal – Copy of provisional certificate issued by the bank mentioning detail about property, loan sanction date.
NPS (National Pension Scheme) – Xerox copy of deposit receipt or account statement of NPS.
Exemption Under section 10
HRA – In order to claim tax benefits on HRA you need to submit rent receipts. If rent paid is below Rs.3000 rent receipt are not required. Some employer may ask rent agreement copy also.
LTA – In order to claim exemption for LTA you need to submit travel proofs. The document includes travel agent bill, railway ticket, boarding pass etc.
Section 80 D
Medical Insurance – Copy of insurance premium receipt and receipt of health checkup done for self, spouse, dependent or parents.
Section 24
Home Loan Interest – Copy of provisional interest certificate issued by bank/financial intuition.
Section 80 DDB
Medical Treatment – Medical bills for the medical treatment specifying disease along with hospital certificate.
Section 80G
Donation – You need to submit donation receipt. Donation receipts are issued by charitable organization where you donate money.
Section 80E
Education Loan – Copy of loan certificate showing interest payments.
Tips – Do’s & Don’ts
- Last date of submission of income tax proof is decided by the employer. Mostly it will be first week of March Month.
- You need to submit Xerox copy of certificate. Employer never ask to submit original copies.
- You need to keep copy of these income tax proof for the period of six years. Income tax can investigate income tax returns up to 6 years.
- If you are planning to make investment before March and last date to submit proof is in January you can declare that you will be making investment.
- Never submit fake income tax proofs such as rent receipt or fake bill of LTA. You may end up in multiple issues if you submit fake proofs.
- Make sure to fully utilize section 80C and other income tax exemptions while making investments.
- LTA and medical reimbursement can be claimed and settled at employer level. You cannot claim these benefits while filling Income Tax return.
- If you miss deadline for submitting proof you can still claim tax deduction while filing income tax return.
Over to you
To avoid a last-minute rush, it is advisable to start tax planning exercise at the beginning of the financial year. Submit your income tax proof to the employer before the deadline. This is to avoid extra TDS deduction by the employer.