Form 16 has two sections, A and B. Please note here that this is not to be confused with Form 16A, which is a separate and different form.
Form 16 section A
Form 16’s section A contains details of TDS deductions and deposits. As an employee, you can easily download this section of the form through the TRACES portal. However, your employer will be needed to authenticate the document. The major parts of the Form 16 Section A are-
- Details of the employer (Name and Address)
- PAN and TAN of the employer
- Employee PAN
- Summary of salary payment and tax deductions
Form 16 section B
Part B of Form 16 seeks to expand on Section A and is put together by the employer. This part contains a detailed breakup of income and the deductions made, along with sections like Gratuity, HRA, and PPF, among others.
In addition to Form 16, it's important to note that certain employees may also need to furnish Form 12BB, including details of tax-saving investments. This is crucial for ensuring accurate tax deductions.
What is Form 16 password
The password for Form 16 is created by combining the first five characters of your PAN number in uppercase with your date of birth in the format DDMMYYYY. For example, if your PAN number is CMDPP1234B and your birth date is March 16, 1994, the password would be CMDPP16031994.
Form 16 password explained with an example
Form 16 passwords may differ depending on the employer’s organisation. Different password combinations are commonly used to access Form 16 files. For example, if your PAN is ABCDE2050K and your date of birth is 27 March 1994, possible password formats may include the following:
- The password may combine the PAN number (uppercase or lowercase) with the date of birth, such as ABCDE2050K27031994 or abcde2050k27031994.
- It may also include the first five characters of the PAN along with the date of birth, such as ABCDE27031994 or abcde27031994.
There can be several other password variations for Form 16. Some commonly used examples are listed below for reference.
| Password format | Format example | Explanation |
|---|
| First five letters of PAN + DOB | CMDPP16031994 | The password may include the first five letters of PAN (uppercase or lowercase) followed by date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. |
| PAN number | CMDPP1234B | The password may be the employee’s PAN number in uppercase or lowercase. |
| PAN number + date of birth | CMDPP1234B16031994 | The password may combine the full PAN number and date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. |
| Last four digits of PAN + date of birth | 1234_16031994 | Some employers use the last four digits of PAN along with the employee’s date of birth. |
| Full name + date of birth | JohnSharma16031994 | The password may include the employee’s full name followed by date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. |
| Last name + PAN number | SharmaCMDPP1234B | Certain organisations may use the employee’s last name along with the PAN number. |
Why is the Form 16 PDF password protected?
Form 16 is an important document for employees as it carries key financial details such as salary breakup, TDS deducted, PAN, TAN, address, benefits received from the employer, and investment information.
Since the document contains sensitive personal and financial data, it is kept confidential. To ensure security, the Form 16 PDF is password-protected and can only be accessed by the concerned employee.
How to remove the Form 16 password
As Form 16 is quite significant in preparing income tax returns, it often has to be accessed multiple times. Typing a long Form 16 password can get frustrating pretty quickly and you may be wondering if there is a way around it. Well, there definitely is! The best way to save time and effort here is to learn how to quickly save a password-protected document like Form 16 as a new PDF without the password. The method is simple and efficient and will save you a ton of time when preparing taxation documents and finalising calculations. You can easily remove the Form 16 password with the following steps-
- Open the Form 16 file in a web browser like Google Chrome. For this, you can right-click on the document, and go to the ‘Open With’ menu to select Chrome.
- Once the document is open, it will prompt you for the password. Don’t worry as this is the last time you will have to enter the password. Enter the key in the specified format to access the document.
- When the PDF is open, locate the ‘Print’ button in the top right or simply press Ctrl + P to open the print menu.
- In the now-open print menu, you will get the option to choose the destination for printing. Here, you can simply pick the ‘Save as PDF’ option from the menu
- After you have selected the right option, click on the ‘Save’ button to choose the desired directory folder to save the new PDF.
- And that’s it! The newly saved PDF will not have a password and can be easily accessed anytime.
Also read: What is Form 60
Summing up
Understanding Form 16 and its password protection is essential for salaried professionals as it is key for filing income tax returns. Form 16 details salary and tax deductions, divided into Form 16A and Form 16B sections. Each Form 16 password is uniquely generated using an employee's PAN and date of birth. For convenience, passwords can be removed easily, streamlining the tax compliance process.
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