Short answer: To check Form 26AS TDS credit, open the official income-tax service, select the correct assessment year and compare the reported deduction with the certificate or payment evidence you hold. This guide covers Form 26AS for Assessment Year 2026-27 and earlier. The Department now identifies Form 168 as the annual statement for Tax Year 2026-27 onwards: those similar-looking year labels describe different periods.
A deduction on a payslip, an entry in a statement and a credit claimed in a return are connected records, not interchangeable proof that every part of a tax account is correct. Use this guide to organise a reconciliation and identify the question that needs answering. It does not calculate your tax, decide your entitlement to a credit or recommend filing a particular return.
Choose the period before checking Form 26AS TDS credit
The Income Tax Department’s annual-statement instructions distinguish Form 26AS, applicable up to Assessment Year 2026-27, from Form 168, applicable from Tax Year 2026-27 onwards. Do not choose a document simply because its year contains the latest number. Start with the period to which the income and deduction relate.
Write the period shown on your supporting certificate beside the period selected in the portal. Keep financial-year, assessment-year and tax-year wording intact rather than shortening everything to “2026”. For example, the Department’s heading places Previous Year 2025-26 under the Form 26AS route. A Tax Year 2026-27 statement is not a substitute for that earlier period.
If the labels on two documents do not seem to line up, resolve that issue before comparing totals. Otherwise, a perfectly ordinary difference between periods can look like a missing deduction. This is especially useful when you have changed employers or are reviewing several years together.
The practical change readers should notice is the Department’s statement-name and period distinction. This article is not announcing a new TDS rate, a fresh filing extension or a universal migration deadline. It also does not assume that every older help page uses the newest statement terminology.
Open the statement through the official route
For the legacy-year route, the Department directs registered taxpayers through the e-Filing portal’s income-tax-return menu to the Form 26AS service and then to the TDS-CPC statement page. Choose the relevant assessment year and available viewing format. Read any service notice before continuing and check the selected period again when the statement opens.
For the newer tax-year route, the same official instructions identify the Form 168 option and an annual-statement view or download step. If your work concerns that period, follow the current instructions for that form rather than copying the legacy menu sequence from this article. Menu wording can differ as services are updated.
Save a readable copy with a filename that includes the form and period. Note when you obtained it. If you later obtain an updated statement, retain a way to distinguish the versions instead of silently replacing the evidence you used for an earlier comparison.
You do not need to send CheckMatter your PAN, portal credentials, certificate or complete tax statement to understand these steps. Use your own official account or an appropriately authorised professional. A public guide cannot inspect or certify an individual taxpayer’s private records.
Compare the underlying entry, not only the total
Start with one deduction and the supporting record for that period. Compare the deductor identity or reference, the period, the amount described as income or payment and the amount described as tax deducted. Preserve the labels used by each document; do not assume that every amount on a certificate is a tax-credit amount.
A total can match while a question about one entry remains unresolved. Conversely, a total may differ because you have not yet gathered every certificate or have mixed documents from different periods. Work from identifiable entries towards the total instead of adjusting a figure merely to make two summary numbers agree.
| Comparison field | What to record | Question if it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Period | Exact year label on each record | Are these the same reporting period? |
| Deductor | Name and reference as displayed | Does this identify the organisation that deducted tax? |
| Deduction amount | Tax field rather than gross payment | Am I comparing equivalent amounts? |
| Evidence version | Certificate and statement retrieval dates | Was either record subsequently corrected? |
| Unresolved point | One precise difference | Who can explain or correct this record? |
This is an original reconciliation worksheet, not an official filing form. Do not enter made-up identifiers or fill gaps with estimates. Mark an unavailable field as unavailable and ask the responsible source for clarification.
An investment statement answers a different question. Our guide to reading a consolidated account statement concerns investment holdings and transactions. A CAS balance should not be compared directly with a TDS-credit total as though both were measurements of the same thing.
Identify which record may need correction
The Department’s tax-credit mismatch FAQ directs a taxpayer with a TDS mismatch to inform the employer or deductor; correction may require that deductor to revise its TDS return. Keep this separate from changing information in your own income-tax return.
Send a specific request through the organisation’s legitimate payroll, accounts or tax-support channel. State the period and describe the discrepancy, attach only relevant evidence and ask whether its reporting has been checked. Avoid sending an entire household financial history when a small extract explains the question.
A useful request has three parts: the record you are comparing, the difference you found and the clarification you need. For example, ask whether the deduction for the identified period was reported against the correct details. Do not write that the organisation has necessarily failed to pay tax when you have established only that your records differ.
If PAN identity or status is itself in doubt, resolve that as a separate issue using official services. Our PAN and Aadhaar status guide explains the related identity-status check. Linking status is not a universal explanation for every missing entry, and this article does not diagnose your account from that one fact.
Use the mismatch service when the relevant return is filed
The Department’s Tax Credit Mismatch user manual describes a service for registered users with a filed return for the relevant assessment year and the required tax information in Form 26AS. The service is reached from the portal’s services menu and compares reported return details with statement information.
Use that comparison as a diagnostic record. Read which field differs and keep the result with your reconciliation notes. Do not confuse a message about matching credit figures with a complete review of income classification, deductions, eligibility or every other part of the return.
The appropriate correction route depends on what is wrong, what has already been filed or processed and the rules applicable to that case. The official help distinguishes deductor corrections from taxpayer return or rectification processes. Check the current prerequisites and any applicable time limit before acting; this guide does not establish eligibility for a revised return or rectification request.
If you have received a notice or demand, keep its own instructions and dates visible. A request pending with payroll does not, by itself, suspend another obligation. Obtain qualified assistance where the record or procedural position is unclear rather than repeatedly submitting different figures without an explanation.
An illustrative check without invented tax figures
Imagine an employee reviewing a legacy-year statement after changing jobs. The first employer’s certificate and the second employer’s certificate are stored in different folders. The employee initially compares the statement total with only the certificate that is easiest to find, and believes an amount is missing.
The employee then lists both employers, aligns the reporting period and compares each identifiable deduction separately. One question disappears because the comparison was incomplete. A different entry still does not align, so the employee sends a focused request to the relevant payroll team with the exact period and document references.
That example does not assume a particular error or promise a refund. It illustrates why completeness, year selection and entry-level evidence come before deciding what correction to request. If payroll later issues a corrected certificate or confirms a reporting correction, the employee can repeat the same comparison using clearly dated versions.
Keep a usable and private evidence trail
Maintain one short note for each unresolved deduction: the period, the records consulted, the question sent, the acknowledgement and the answer received. This makes a later discussion with the deductor or professional adviser easier to follow than a long collection of unlabelled screenshots.
Separate an explanation from a completed correction. “We are checking” is a progress update; it is not evidence that a statement has changed. Obtain a fresh official record when appropriate, compare the same entry again and record what you can actually see. Keep any remaining uncertainty explicit.
Frequently asked questions
Does Form 168 replace every past Form 26AS check?
No. The Department separates the forms by period. Use the form and year applicable to the records you are reviewing.
Can I correct a deductor’s reporting by editing my own worksheet?
No. A worksheet helps identify the question. Reporting corrections must follow the appropriate official process.
Does a matching total guarantee a refund?
No. Matching selected credit records does not determine the complete tax position or an individual refund entitlement.
Final Form 26AS TDS credit checklist
Select the correct form and period, gather all relevant records, compare identifiable deductions, ask the responsible source about a specific difference and verify any correction in a fresh official record. A careful Form 26AS TDS credit check produces an evidence trail rather than a guessed filing figure.
Author: Ajit Naskar. Publication date: 16 October 2026. Updated and last verified: 15 October 2026. Correction history: Initial version; no published corrections. General record-checking information, not personalised tax or legal advice. No affiliate links. Scope: Form 26AS for AY2026-27 and earlier; follow current official instructions for Form168 and later tax years. No filing deadline or refund guarantee asserted.
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