As the last date to file your income tax returns (ITR) gets closer, you need to be prepared with all the documents you need to be able to it. However, for reasons beyond your control, you may not have your form 16 with you for whatever reason. In such a case, you can still file your income tax returns, which you need to before the due date to avoid paying late fees under section 234F of the income tax act.

Here are the steps you can take to file your IT returns without a form 16:

1. Income from Salary

You can access your income from salary from your monthly payslips that you should be receiving as an email from your company's HR department. You should be aware that the new ITR forms (ITR-1 for a salaried individual with one house property) have been revised to include a break up of your salary contents.
The details will include under the head

• Salary/Pension
• Allowances not exempt
• Value of perquisites
• Profit in lieu of Salary
• Deductions claimed under section 16

Except for value of perquisites and profit in lieu of salary, the details should be clearly provided in your salary slips. For the missing details, you may have to contact the HR department of your company. Once you have all the details of your salary you need to fill it in appropriate slots in your ITR form. Make sure to include allowances like HRA, transport, etc that are exempt from tax to an extent for the FY 2017-18.

2. TDS

The tax deducted at source (TDS) on your payslip needs to match the Form 26AS. Form 26AS includes all the taxes deducted on your behalf (under your PAN) from any income you may have made like salary, interest on fixed deposit extra. The form is available on income tax department's official website and you need to check if it matches the amount of TDS mentioned in your payslips or TDS mentioned in your interest certificates. If there is a difference, you will have to contact your respective deductor to understand why the tax was not filed as you could get in trouble for the difference.

3. Income from house property

If you have let out any house in the financial year 2017-18, you can mention the income that you made from it in the form under the head "income from house property." For the interest that you may be paying on a home loan for your self-occupied or let-out house, you can claim a deduction from tax under the same heading. Additionally, you will get a 30 percent standard deduction on the income under house property irrespective of the extent of your expenses. Note that if you own more than one house, the second will be deemed to be let-out and the income will be taxed on it.

4. Income from capital gains

Capital gains include your profits from equity, equity linked mutual funds, land or some property. For your equity investments, you will get statements from your broker and in the case of your property, you will have purchase or sale deed to get the accurate value of the profit made.

Note that for equity or equity linked mutual funds held for over 1 year (considered long term assets) are not taxable if sold before 31 January 2018. For those bought before 31 January 2018, and sold before 31 March 2018, your income will be indexed. Also Read: All your New LTCG Regime Questions Answered by the IT Dept

If you have made any losses on these investments, you can write it off under the same head (short term capital losses against short term capital gains and long term capital gain losses against long term capital gains).

5. Income from other sources

Income from your investments in FD, savings/recurring deposit accounts, tax refunds, profits from futures and options trading, etc will come under the head "other sources." Your losses from these can also be written against the profit. You should be able to gather the information from your bank statements and summary statements from the broker.

6. Deductions under various sections

The most common deductions that you may be claiming would be on your PF, life insurance premium, PPF, health insurance premium, etc. While PF information can be gathered from your pay slips, you can find the premium amount paid in the premium receipts from your insurer. You can also claim various deductions under section 80C, 80D, 80E, 80TTA, etc.