Published 7 May 2026
This is the document-import version of the ITR-1 single-salary walkthrough. The cold-start manual-entry version is the companion article. Same person, same income facts, same final tax outcome – just a much faster route to it.
Meet again Aaryan Khurana, 30, software engineer in Gurugram, single salary of ₹7,80,000 from Acme Software Pvt Ltd, ₹1,50,000 invested in PPF, and ₹8,000 of savings-account interest. This time he’s downloaded his Form 16 PDF from his employer and his AIS PDF from the income-tax portal. He’ll let BharatTax read both and pre-fill the schedules; he just verifies what’s pre-filled and adds anything missing.
Use this flow when:
- You have Form 16 (employer has issued it). For salaried individuals this is typically by mid-June.
- You want to minimise data-entry time – the import flow takes about 5 minutes versus 15-20 minutes manual.
- You want BharatTax to cross-verify your entries against AIS / 26AS automatically, catching items you might otherwise forget (savings interest, dividend, mutual-fund redemptions).
1. Eligibility – same as manual flow
The eligibility rules for ITR-1 are unchanged: ROR individual, total income ≤ ₹50 lakh, salary + one HP + limited other-sources income, no business or capital gains, no foreign assets, not a director, no unlisted equity. See the companion article for the full checklist. BharatTax’s questionnaire will catch any disqualification regardless of which flow you use.
2. What you need
For the import flow, three documents matter:
| Document | Source | What it gives BharatTax |
|---|---|---|
| Form 16 (PDF) | Your employer (downloaded from employer’s HRMS / sent by email) | Salary breakup, perquisites, profession tax, Section 16 deductions, TDS quarterly + total. |
| Form 26AS (PDF) – optional but recommended | Login to incometax.gov.in → e-File → View 26AS (redirects to TRACES) → download for AY 2026-27 | Cross-check on TDS, advance tax, self-assessment tax, refund of earlier years. |
| AIS (PDF) – optional but strongly recommended | Login to incometax.gov.in → Services → AIS → download for FY 2025-26 | Comprehensive income visibility – savings interest, FD interest, dividend, mutual-fund transactions, large purchases. Catches what 26AS misses. |
What a Form 16 looks like
A typical Form 16 has two parts: Part A (TDS quarterly summary) and Part B (annexure with the salary breakup + Section 16 deductions + Chapter VI-A claims declared via Form 12BB). Aaryan’s Form 16 from Acme Software:
The Part A “Total” row (₹7,80,000 paid, ₹18,000 TDS) cross-references against your Form 26AS quarterly entries. Mismatch in either column means the deductor either over-deposited or under-deposited TDS to ITD on your behalf.
What an AIS looks like
The Annual Information Statement is far more detailed than 26AS. Key sections to scan: Part B (TDS / TCS), Part C (SFT entries – banks, brokers, mutual funds reporting under Section 285BA), and Part D (other reportable items including dividend, capital gains, LRS remittances).
The PDF is encrypted – password is
<PAN-in-lowercase><DOB-ddmmyyyy>. For Aaryan:aaapk1234r15061995. BharatTax’s parser unlocks internally; you don’t need to decrypt before upload.
About 26AS vs AIS: 26AS is the older Tax Credit Statement – it shows TDS/TCS deducted against your PAN. AIS is the newer Annual Information Statement, expanded to include income reported by banks, mutual funds, brokers, and others (the SFT / Statement of Financial Transactions sources). For a thorough filing, use both. AIS is the gold standard for completeness; 26AS is the gold standard for TDS accuracy.
The PAN-level password: AIS PDF is encrypted; the password is your
<PAN-in-lowercase><DOB-in-ddmmyyyy>– e.g. for Aaryan,aaapk1234r15061995. BharatTax’s parser handles the decryption internally; you do not need to unlock the PDF before uploading.
3. Step-by-step walkthrough
Step 1 – Sign in to BharatTax
Same OTP-based sign-in as the manual flow. Email + 6-digit code; no password to remember.
Step 2 – Upload the documents
The first phase shows an upload area with multiple tiles:
- Last Year’s ITR JSON (skip if first-time filer)
- Form 16 (Aaryan uploads his Acme Software Form 16 PDF)
- Form 26AS (optional)
- AIS (Aaryan uploads his AIS PDF; password handled internally)
- Form 12BB (employer-side investment declaration; not relevant here)
Aaryan drops his Form 16 PDF onto the Form 16 tile. Within a few seconds, BharatTax’s parser reads the PDF and extracts the salary breakup. The tile turns green and shows a summary: “Form 16 imported: Acme Software Pvt Ltd, Gross Rs 7,80,000, TDS Rs 18,000.”
He then drops his AIS PDF onto the AIS tile. Same flow – BharatTax shows: “AIS imported: 1 issuer, Rs 8,000 savings interest from HDFC Bank captured.”
Parser confidence flag: BharatTax’s Form 16 parser shows a confidence score for the extraction (high / medium / low). High confidence means every line was matched cleanly to a known field; medium / low means at least one figure needs your manual verification. The schedules you see in subsequent steps highlight any low-confidence fields in amber.
Step 3 – Personal information (mostly pre-filled)
Form 16 carries the assessee’s name, PAN, address, and TAN of employer. AIS carries the same plus DOB and Aadhaar. BharatTax merges both and pre-fills the personal-info phase.
Aaryan checks each field:
- PAN, name, DOB, address – pre-filled from imports.
- Aadhaar – pre-filled from AIS.
- Mobile, email, bank IFSC + account – not in Form 16 / AIS; Aaryan types these in.
He picks “Haryana” from the state dropdown (already correct from the import) and his bank type “Savings”. The fields turn solid colour as each completes.
Verify, don’t trust blindly. Imports are typically accurate but not perfect. PAN typos in employer’s Form 16 system, address line breaks rendered oddly, or stale email addresses in AIS are common. Spend 30 seconds confirming each pre-filled value matches your reality.
Step 4 – Answer the eligibility questions
The questionnaire is the same as the manual flow but several answers arrive pre-selected based on what BharatTax learned from the imports:
- Type of assessee: Individual (default; no docs to override).
- Residential status: Resident and Ordinarily Resident (default; Aaryan can override if needed).
- Sources of income: Salary auto-ticked (Form 16 present), Other Sources auto-ticked (AIS savings interest). House Property and Capital Gains stay unticked unless documents indicated otherwise.
- Director / unlisted shares / foreign assets / losses: Default No, since none of those triggers were detected in the imports.
Aaryan reviews the auto-answered questions – about 90 seconds – and clicks Continue.
The questionnaire is not skipped, just pre-answered. Even with imports, BharatTax still walks through every question. Imports reduce manual effort but you confirm each answer. This is intentional – a director-flag silently auto-set could route you to the wrong form.
Step 5 – Review salary income (pre-filled)
The Income Data page shows the Salary card already populated. BharatTax displays a summary on the card itself: “Acme Software Pvt Ltd | Gross Rs 7,80,000 | TDS Rs 18,000.”
Aaryan clicks View on the Salary card to see the full schedule.
Every field is filled from Form 16 Part B:
- Employer name: Acme Software Pvt Ltd
- Employer TAN: DELA12345B
- Basic salary: ₹4,80,000
- HRA received: ₹1,92,000
- LTA received: ₹24,000
- Special allowance: ₹84,000
- Profession tax: ₹2,400
- TDS deducted: ₹18,000
Aaryan compares each line against his payslips. Everything matches; he clicks Done without changes.
What if the parser missed a line? Form 16 layouts vary by employer. BharatTax handles the common ones (TaxBuddy, Greythr, SAP-SuccessFactors, RazorpayX, Keka, ZingHR), but some company templates aren’t recognised perfectly. If a salary component is missing or wrong, just edit the field directly. The amber low- confidence flag (Step 2) tells you where to look.
HRA exemption (Section 10(13A)): If you live in rented accommodation, BharatTax asks for landlord PAN + rent paid here, and computes the lower of the three statutory tests automatically. HRA exemption is only available under the old regime.
Step 6 – Review other-sources income (pre-filled)
The Other Sources card now reads: “Savings interest Rs 8,000 (HDFC Bank, from AIS).” Aaryan clicks View.
The savings-interest field is pre-filled at ₹8,000. He confirms by matching against his bank statement and clicks Done.
AIS catches what you might forget. Most filers underreport savings-bank interest because the amounts feel trivial. AIS makes this impossible to miss – it shows every issuer who reported income against your PAN. Treat AIS as an audit trail and report every item in it, even if BharatTax has to flag it as non-taxable (gift, principal repayment, etc.).
Savings interest vs FD interest: Savings-bank interest gets the Section 80TTA deduction (₹10,000 cap; senior citizens get the wider Section 80TTB at ₹50,000 covering FD too). FD interest does NOT get 80TTA – it’s fully taxable for non-seniors. BharatTax routes them to different fields automatically.
Step 7 – Add Section 80C (manual)
The 80C section is the one place where pre-fill from Form 16 may or may not have helped. Form 16 Part B sometimes shows the employer-disclosed Chapter VI-A breakdown – if Aaryan declared his PPF investment to his employer mid-year (via Form 12BB), it shows up here.
In this scenario, Aaryan did not declare the PPF investment to his employer; he made the contribution in March 2026 directly to his PPF account. So the 80C section is blank in the pre-filled view. He clicks View on the Deductions card and enters:
- Section 80C – PPF contribution: ₹1,50,000
Why employer’s investment declaration matters. Submitting a Form 12BB to your employer at the start of the year reduces your monthly TDS, because the employer deducts considering the declared investments. Skipping 12BB doesn’t mean you lose the deduction – it just means the deduction shows up at the time of filing (refund) not at the time of salary credit (lower TDS each month).
Cross-check with AIS: Some 80C buckets surface in AIS too – ELSS purchases reported by the AMC, life insurance premiums reported by insurers, etc. BharatTax flags any AIS-reported 80C item that isn’t entered in the Schedule VI-A as a “potentially missed deduction.” Always reconcile.
Step 8 – Schedule TI summary (same as manual flow)
The consolidated Total Income view shows the same numbers as the manual flow:
| Line | New regime | Old regime |
|---|---|---|
| Income from Salary (after Section 16) | ₹7,05,000 | ₹7,27,600 |
| Income from Other Sources | ₹8,000 | ₹8,000 |
| Gross Total Income | ₹7,13,000 | ₹7,35,600 |
| Less: Chapter VI-A | – | ₹1,58,000 |
| Total Income (rounded under Sec 288A) | ₹7,13,000 | ₹5,77,600 |
same as manual-flow article – run the fixture once and replace approximations with exact compute output.
Step 9 – Compute and compare regimes
Identical to the manual flow. New regime wins: ₹0 tax, ₹18,000 refund. Old regime: approximately ₹29,141 tax, ₹11,141 balance payable.
arithmetic should match the companion manual-flow article exactly – same fixture facts, same output.
Why both regimes show the same numbers as the manual flow: The entry path (manual vs import) doesn’t affect the underlying computation. Slabs, rebate, surcharge, cess apply identically. The import flow saves data-entry time; it doesn’t change the tax math.
Step 10 – Confirm regime and download JSON
Aaryan clicks Confirm: New Regime, then Download JSON. Same file format as the manual flow, ready to upload to incometax.gov.in.
Step 11 – Upload to incometax.gov.in and e-Verify
Same as the manual flow. ITD’s portal validates the JSON, shows a preview, then prompts for e-verification (Aadhaar OTP / net banking / ITR-V).
4. What import saves you
| Step | Manual flow | Import flow |
|---|---|---|
| Personal info entry | ~3 min typing | ~30 sec verification |
| Salary schedule | ~5 min typing | ~30 sec verification |
| Other sources | ~1 min typing | ~10 sec verification |
| Section VI-A | ~2 min typing | ~2 min typing (PPF still manual) |
| Questionnaire | Same | Same – but pre-answered |
| Total | ~12-15 min | ~4-6 min |
The import flow also catches data you might forget: AIS surfaces savings interest, dividend, mutual-fund redemptions automatically. For an otherwise straightforward salaried filer, import is the right default; manual flow remains useful for the cases listed in the companion article.
5. Common mistakes specific to the import flow
review for completeness and tax-law accuracy.
- Treating import as final. A pre-filled value is a starting point, not a finished filing. Confirm every line against your own records.
- Uploading last year’s Form 16 by mistake. Form 16 is dated and AY-specific. AY 2026-27 needs the FY 2025-26 Form 16 (issued by employer in April-June 2026). BharatTax flags AY mismatches but double-check the date on the PDF.
- Skipping AIS upload. Without AIS, savings interest, small dividend, and SFT items can be missed. ITD’s matching engine flags any reported income not declared in your return.
- Failing to add 80C investments not declared to employer. The employer-side 12BB declaration is a TDS-optimisation tool; whatever you didn’t declare in time is still claimable at filing – but only if you remember to add it manually in Schedule VI-A.
- Ignoring AIS feedback opportunity. AIS allows taxpayer feedback for items you disagree with (e.g. an SFT entry incorrectly tagged to your PAN). Submit feedback on incometax.gov.in before filing if any AIS row is wrong; otherwise ITD’s prefill on next year will carry the error forward.
6. Frequently asked questions
all FAQ answers below.
Q: My Form 16 has Part A only – the salary breakup (Part B) is missing. What now? A: Some employers issue Part A alone in the first cut and Part B later. Part A has the TDS quarterly figures, which BharatTax can use, but the salary breakup needs Part B for the schedule. Ask your HR/payroll team for the consolidated Form 16; or, fall back to the manual flow using your salary slips.
Q: I have two Form 16s from two employers in the same year. Can I upload both? A: Yes – upload them one after another. BharatTax adds each as a separate row in the salary schedule and computes a consolidated gross. This is covered in detail in the “Multi-employer ITR-1” article.
Q: Form 16 says my profession tax was ₹2,500 but my actual challans are ₹2,400. What does BharatTax show? A: BharatTax shows what Form 16 says. Edit the value in the salary schedule to ₹2,400 (or the correct amount per your challans) – you’re not bound to the employer’s figure if it’s wrong. Note that profession tax is allowed under Section 16(iii) only under the old regime.
Q: AIS shows ₹500 in dividend that I didn’t see in my account. Should I include it? A: Yes, declare it. Dividend income is taxable. ₹500 is a small amount but ITD will flag the mismatch, leading to a low-stakes notice that costs more time to respond to than including it does.
Q: Form 16 was generated before my March bonus. Where do I add the bonus? A: Edit the salary schedule directly – add the bonus to the “special allowance” or “bonus” field. Re-confirm the gross total matches your December-to-March payslips. The Form 16 you have is out-of-date; ask your employer for a revised Form 16 for filing safety.
Q: BharatTax’s parser says “low confidence – verify”; what does that mean? A: The Form 16 PDF either uses a layout the parser doesn’t fully recognise, or some figures didn’t match the expected pattern. The schedule editor highlights the affected fields in amber. Compare against the Form 16 PDF directly and correct as needed.
Verification checklist
Items needing Arun’s review pass before publishing:
- [ ] All
...markers above resolved. - [ ] Run the fixture through BharatTax’s actual import flow and confirm the parser extracts the values listed in this article. Replace approximations with exact compute output.
- [ ] Confirm AIS PDF password format
<pan-lowercase><dob-ddmmyyyy>. - [ ] Confirm list of recognised Form 16 templates (TaxBuddy, Greythr, SAP-SuccessFactors, RazorpayX, Keka, ZingHR) – update if the parser supports more or fewer.
- [ ] Confirm CBDT v1.4 schema status.
- [ ] Screenshots: list complete? Anything to add/remove before capture?