What Is Form 16? How to Read Your Salary TDS Certificate (and Why It's Now Called Form 130)

Last updated: 21 October 2026

Every June, HR sends an email with a PDF that most of us download, glance at, and forget. Then July arrives, someone says "file your ITR", and suddenly that forgotten PDF is the most important document in your life. That PDF is Form 16. Let's make it less scary.

Form 16, in one line (as of 21 October 2026): Form 16 is the TDS certificate your employer gives you for your salary. It shows how much you were paid, how much tax was deducted, and that the tax was deposited against your PAN. For salary paid from 1 April 2026, the same certificate is called Form No. 130.

What is Form 16?

Form 16 is a TDS certificate for your salary. TDS means "tax deducted at source": your employer cuts some tax from your salary every month and deposits it with the government on your behalf.

Form 16 is your employer's official proof of three things:

• how much salary they paid you in the year,
• how much tax they deducted, and
• that the tax was actually deposited against your PAN.

Think of it as the bill at the end of a long dinner. Every month you ordered a little (your salary) and a little tax got added. Form 16 is the final, itemised bill that shows the whole year in one place.

Form 16 vs Form 130: what changed from 1 April 2026

Yes, for new salary. India's new Income-tax Act, 2025 came into force on 1 April 2026, and with it the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered most tax forms. The salary TDS certificate is now Form No. 130 (issued under Section 395(4)(b) of the new Act). It replaces Form 16 from the old Income-tax Rules, 1962.

What that means for you, in plain terms:

Fintelligent

So the Form 16 you got this June was for last year's salary. The one you'll get in June 2027 will be called Form 130. The idea is the same, and most people (and most HR teams) will keep calling it "Form 16" for a while.

Old and new form numbers at a glance:

Section numbers changed too: Section 80C is now Section 123, and the standard deduction is in Section 19.

Who gets Form 16 (Form 130), and when is it due?

• Who: any salaried employee whose employer deducted tax from their salary. If no tax was deducted, the employer doesn't have to issue one, though many still do.
• When: by 15 June after the year ends.
• How: for the new Form 130, your employer must download the certificate from the government's TRACES system; a Form 130 made any other way isn't a valid certificate. For the old Form 16 (salary up to March 2026), only Part A had to be downloaded from TRACES. Part B could be prepared by the employer.
• Changed jobs? Each employer gives you its own certificate for the months you worked there (Parts A and B of Form 130, or Part A of the old Form 16). The detailed salary and tax calculation (Part C, Annexure-I, in Form 130; Part B in the old Form 16) can come from each employer or only from your last employer. That's your choice.

Form 16 Part A, Part B and Part C, explained

The Form 16 you got in June 2026 (for FY 2025-26) has only two parts: Part A and Part B. The new Form 130 (for Tax Year 2026-27 onwards) has three: Part A, Part B and Part C. The information is basically the same, it's just arranged differently.

Fintelligent

Part A: who's who (both forms)

• Your name and PAN, and your employer's name and TAN (their tax account number).
• The period you worked there.
• In the old Form 16, Part A also has a quarter-by-quarter summary of tax deducted and deposited. In Form 130, that summary moves to Part B.

Check: is your PAN correct? If it's wrong, the tax won't show up against your name.

Part B of Form 130: the summary reconciliation

A summary of the salary paid and the tax deducted and deposited. This is the same quarter-wise picture that sat in Part A of the old Form 16. (In the old Form 16, Part B is something else: the full calculation below.)

The full salary and tax calculation: Part B of Form 16, Part C (Annexure-I) of Form 130

This is the bit you'll actually use for your return. It shows:

• Gross salary: basic, HRA, allowances, bonus, perquisites.
• Exemptions: things like HRA (old regime only).
• Standard deduction: ₹75,000 in the new regime, ₹50,000 in the old.
• Other deductions: like Section 123 (old 80C) investments, if you chose the old regime.
• Taxable income, tax payable, cess, and the tax already deducted.

In your FY 2025-26 Form 16, all of this is in Part B. In Form 130, it moves to Part C. Same numbers, new seat.

How to read Form 16: a ₹15 lakh worked example

Neha earned a ₹15 lakh salary in FY 2025-26 and chose the new tax regime. Here's roughly what the calculation section of her Form 16 (Part B) would show. The new-regime slabs are the same for Tax Year 2026-27, so the same salary would give the same numbers in her Form 130 next June:

So about ₹8,125 a month was cut from her salary as TDS, and her employer deposited all of it.

Assumptions: resident individual under 60, new-regime slabs for FY 2025-26 and Tax Year 2026-27 (nil up to ₹4 lakh, 5% for ₹4 to 8 lakh, 10% for ₹8 to 12 lakh, 15% for ₹12 to 16 lakh), no other income, no surcharge, one employer for the full year, and TDS spread evenly over 12 months. Illustrative figures only, not a tax computation for your case.

Fintelligent

Had Neha earned ₹12 lakh instead, her taxable income after the ₹75,000 standard deduction would be ₹11.25 lakh, below the ₹12 lakh rebate limit, so her tax (and TDS) would be zero.

How to check your Form 16 in five minutes

1. PAN and name: correct?
2. Employer TAN: present? Without it, your TDS can't be traced.
3. Salary: does gross salary match your payslips added up for the year?
4. Regime: does the form use the regime you picked? If you told HR "old regime" but it shows the new one (or the other way round), you can still choose the right one when you file your return, as long as you file it by the due date. The old-regime option is only available in a return filed on time.
5. Match with your tax passbook: log in to the income tax e-filing portal and check that the TDS in your Form 16 matches what's in Form 26AS / AIS (Form 168 from Tax Year 2026-27). If it doesn't match, ask HR to fix it. They have to file a revised TDS statement, and then they can give you a corrected certificate.

Common Form 16 mistakes and myths

• "I have Form 16, so my tax is done." Not quite. Form 16 only covers salary. Interest from FDs or savings accounts, rent, capital gains, or freelance income has to be added in your return yourself.
• "Do I attach Form 16 to my return?" No. You just use it to fill in your return, then keep it safely for your records.
• "I lost it." Ask your employer for a duplicate. They can issue one marked "duplicate".
• "Two jobs, two Form 16s, and too little tax." Each employer gave you the basic standard deduction and slab benefit as if they were your only employer. Add both up, and you may owe extra tax when you file.
• "I forgot to submit proofs to HR, so I lost my deductions." If you're in the old regime, you can usually still claim eligible deductions in your return, even if they're missing from Form 16. You'll get the extra tax back as a refund.

The bottom line

Form 16, now Form 130 for salary from April 2026, is your employer's receipt for the tax they cut from your salary. Part A tells you who's who (and, in the old Form 16, how much tax was deposited). In the Form 16 for FY 2025-26, Part B shows the full calculation you'll copy into your return. In Form 130, Part B has the tax-deducted summary and Part C has the full calculation. Spend five minutes in June checking your PAN, your salary, your regime and the match with your tax passbook, and filing your return becomes a lot calmer.

Related reads

• Old tax regime vs new tax regime: which one should you pick?
• What is ELSS? The tax-saving mutual fund, explained simply
• EPF vs PPF vs NPS: which is best for you?
• How to make a monthly budget
• What is an emergency fund? How much you need in India

Sources (checked 21 October 2026): Income Tax Department, Form No. 130 FAQs (Form 130 under the Income-tax Rules, 2026 replaces Form 16 of the 1962 Rules; Section 395(4)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 2025; Rule 215(1); Parts A, B and C; issued from TRACES only; due by 15 June after the tax year; separate Part A and B per employer, with Part C (Annexure-I) from each employer or only the last one, at the employee's option; duplicate allowed; not attached to the return; corrections via revised TDS statement in Form 138); Income Tax Department, TDS compliance FAQs (salary paid up to 31 March 2026 under the 1961 Act, Section 192; salary paid from 1 April 2026 under Section 392(1) of the 2025 Act); Income Tax Department, FAQs and guidance notes on forms as per Income-tax Rules, 2026 and Form No. 168 FAQs (Form 26AS / AIS becomes Form 168, Rule 245); Income Tax Department, Form No. 124 FAQs (Form 124, earlier Form 12BB, under Section 392(5)(b), Rule 205); CBDT Circular No. 04/2013 (under the 1962 Rules, only Part A of Form 16 had to be generated from TRACES; Part B prepared by the employer); Income-tax Rules, 1962, Rule 31 (with more than one employer, Part B of Form 16 from each employer or the last one, at the employee's option); Income Tax Department, Threshold limits and Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by the Finance Act, 2026 (standard deduction ₹75,000 new / ₹50,000 old, Section 19; rebate up to ₹12 lakh in the new regime, Section 156; Section 123 replaces 80C; new-regime slabs and the option to opt out, which must be exercised with the return of income furnished under Section 263(1), in Section 202(4); for FY 2025-26 the corresponding provision is Section 115BAC(6) of the 1961 Act, read with Section 139(1)). Example figures are illustrations, not professional tax advice.