C.K. Gupta
In short
If TDS was cut from your salary, interest or payment but does not appear in Form 26AS/AIS, only your deductor can fix it — by filing a correction on TRACES, which usually reflects in your 26AS within 7–15 days. Meanwhile, claim only the TDS that 26AS shows, get every request to the deductor in writing, and use the TRACES “Request for Resolution” grievance route if they will not cooperate. Verified October 2026 · TaxGST.in
Picture this: your salary slip for the year shows ₹1,84,000 deducted as TDS. You log in to the income-tax portal to file your return — and Form 26AS shows only ₹1,52,000 against your employer’s TAN. ₹32,000 of your own money is invisible to the department. If you claim the full ₹1,84,000 anyway, the return’s processing will cut the credit back to ₹1,52,000 and raise a demand. If you claim only ₹1,52,000, you overpay tax that was already taken from your pocket.
This is the classic TDS credit mismatch, and it is far more common than people think — especially for bank FD interest, freelance payments and job changes mid-year. The good news: there is a fixed, working path to resolve it. The bad news: the path runs through the deductor, not through you. Here is the complete playbook. For TDS mechanics under the new law, start with our Section 393 TDS guide and the Form 141 Schedule E walkthrough for NRI property purchases.
26AS, AIS and TIS in 60 seconds
Three statements, three different jobs:
- Form 26AS — your tax-credit ledger. TDS, TCS, advance tax paid, refunds. This is what the return-processing engine matches your claimed TDS against.
- AIS (Annual Information Statement) — the wider net: salary, interest, dividends, securities transactions, mutual-fund redemptions, foreign remittances — everything the department’s information systems see about you.
- TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary) — the derived summary of AIS, used for ITR pre-fill.
The rule of the road: your ITR can only claim TDS credit that Form 26AS reflects. AIS may know about income that 26AS does not — that mismatch is a different problem (file feedback on AIS).
The 6 real reasons your TDS is missing
| Cause | What happened | Who fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Wrong PAN quoted | TDS deposited but credited to another PAN or booked against “PAN not available” | Deductor, via correction statement |
| Statement not filed | Tax cut and deposited, but the quarterly TDS statement never furnished | Deductor, by filing the statement |
| Wrong year or section | Credit sits in the wrong tax year or under the wrong TDS section | Deductor, via statement/challan correction |
| Under-reported amount | Statement filed with a lower TDS figure than actually deducted | Deductor, via correction statement |
| Deducted but not deposited | Cut from your payment, never paid to the government | Department proceeds against the deductor — you are protected and cannot be asked to pay it again |
| Timing mismatch | Income offered in an earlier year; TDS deducted on payment in a later year | You, by carrying the credit forward through the prescribed Form 71 route |
(Cause-and-remedy mapping adapted from CAClubIndia’s TDS reconciliation guide.)
The fix path, step by step
- Pull the evidence. Download Form 26AS from incometax.gov.in for the relevant tax year. Line up every entry against your Form 16 / Form 16A / bank TDS certificates and mark exactly what is missing or different — amount, quarter, TAN.
- Write to the deductor — in writing. Email (not a phone call) the employer’s payroll team, the bank’s TDS cell, or the payer. Name the payment, the deduction date, the amount, your PAN, and the exact discrepancy. Ask them to file a correction statement on TRACES for the relevant quarter. (Under the new form series these are the quarterly TDS returns — salary and non-salary — filed on TRACES; earlier known as Forms 24Q/26Q.)
- Ask for the correction token. A filed correction generates a token number; the deductor can track it under TRACES → Defaults → Track Correction. Ask them to share it — it converts your request from a favour into a tracked process.
- Wait for processing. Once TRACES accepts the corrected statement, Form 26AS typically updates within 7–15 days. Check the “Final” status column — only entries marked Final are safe to rely on for filing; “Unmatched” or “Provisional” entries are not yet confirmed.
- Then file (or revise) the return. Only after 26AS reflects the credit should your ITR claim it. If you already filed with the lower figure, file a revised return with the corrected TDS and e-verify within 30 days.
If the deductor will not cooperate
Deductors usually move once they understand their own exposure: a defaulting deductor faces interest on the shortfall, late-filing fees, penalties, and disallowance of the corresponding expense in its own tax computation — a polite email setting out these consequences is often enough. If it is not:
- TRACES grievance: raise a “Request for Resolution” on tdscpc.gov.in with the payment details, PAN and the deductor’s TAN.
- Income-tax portal: use the “Tax Credit Mismatch” service under Services, attaching your Form 16/16A, bank advice and the email trail.
- Respond to any notice properly: if a TDS-mismatch intimation arrives, reply through e-Proceedings under Pending Actions with the documents — do not ignore it into an ex-parte order.
- Know your protection: where tax was genuinely deducted from your payment but the deductor failed to deposit it, the settled legal position is that the deductee cannot be made to pay the same tax twice. Keep the deduction proof; the department’s remedy lies against the deductor.
Prevent it: the 10-minute quarterly habit
Most mismatches are discovered on filing day, when the clock is ticking. A better habit: check Form 26AS and AIS once a quarter, right after each quarter’s TDS statements are due (the deductor’s filing deadlines cluster in the month after each quarter ends). A missing entry caught in July is a routine correction; the same entry caught the following July is a notice response. Flag unrecognised AIS entries with the portal’s “Submit Feedback” option — the department reviews feedback and updates the processed value, usually within 15–30 days.
For the dates that drive this whole cycle — quarterly TDS statement due dates, advance-tax instalments, return deadlines — bookmark our tax compliance calendar hub and the full income-tax hub.
FAQs
How long does a TRACES correction take to show in 26AS?
Ordinarily 7–15 days after the corrected statement is accepted by TRACES. Entries first appear as “Unmatched” or “Provisional”; wait for “Final” status before filing your return on that credit.
Can I claim TDS that is not yet in my 26AS?
No. The return-processing engine matches claimed TDS against Form 26AS; claiming unreflected credit triggers an intimation and a demand. Wait for the correction, then claim — revising the return if you already filed.
My bank deducted TDS on FD interest but it is not in 26AS. Same process?
Yes. Banks are deductors like anyone else. Write to the branch’s TDS cell with the interest certificate, PAN, and the quarter concerned, and ask for a TRACES correction. Bank corrections are usually among the fastest because their TDS teams handle volume.
AIS shows income I do not recognise. Is that the same fix?
No — that is an AIS problem, not a 26AS problem. Use the “Submit Feedback” option in AIS to mark the entry as belonging to another PAN, duplicate, or incorrectly reported. Do not mix the two remedies.
What if my employer deducted TDS after I changed jobs mid-year?
Both employers report independently; mismatches here are usually wrong-year or wrong-section bookings by one of them. Get each employer’s Form 16, identify which entry is off, and direct the correction request to that employer specifically.
Sources
- CAClubIndia — “Reconciliation of TDS with Form 26AS: Causes of Mismatch and Remedies” (updated 6 October 2026): six-cause mismatch table and remedy mapping; correction-statement procedure and typical 7–15 day reflection; deductor exposure on default; Form 71 / section 155(20) route for timing mismatches.
- India Infoline Knowledge Center — “Steps to follow if your TDS does not reflect on Income Tax Website”: eight-step correction map including TRACES “Track Correction”, the income-tax portal’s “Tax Credit Mismatch” service, and revised-return procedure.
- Income Tax Department / TRACES portal procedures — Form 26AS download and status flags (Final / Unmatched / Provisional) at incometax.gov.in; “Request for Resolution” grievance at tdscpc.gov.in; AIS feedback mechanism.
Discover more from TaxGst.in
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
