Is a Form 16 or Form 130 Genuine? TRACES and Signature Checks

A Form 16 is easy to imitate. Part B is a table any spreadsheet can produce, and a convincing PDF takes an afternoon. Part A is harder to fake, because it has to come out of TRACES (the TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System run by the Income Tax Department), and the TDS it reports has to reach the employee's tax records.

So the checks below rest on three things a forger can't easily control: the TRACES certificate number, the TDS credit in Form 26AS or AIS, and, when the employer signed with a DSC (digital signature certificate), the PDF's signature. They work the same way for Form 130, the certificate that replaces Form 16 from Tax Year 2026-27.

Form 16 or Form 130: which one you should have

The Form 16 you received in June 2026 covers FY 2025-26 and is still a Form 16. The first Form 130s cover salary from April 2026 and are due by 15 June 2027, after that tax year ends. Under rule 215 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026, the certificate is furnished under section 395(4) of the 2025 Act after the employer generates and downloads it from the portal specified by the Director General of Income-tax (Systems), as Form 16 is downloaded from TRACES today. The employer may authenticate it with a digital signature. More on the change is in Form 16 is now Form 130.

The rule for Form 16 is the same in substance. Under CBDT Circular No. 04/2013 (17 April 2013), Part A must be generated and downloaded through TRACES, carries a unique TDS certificate number, and must be authenticated by the employer with a manual or digital signature. Part B is prepared by the employer.

What each check proves

None of them proves the Part B figures on its own. Part B is the employer's own computation, so for salary the closest independent figure is the TDS and the salary reported in AIS.

Check 1: Part A and its TRACES certificate number

Open Part A and look for:

• the employer's name, address and TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number)
• the employee's PAN
• the certificate number, printed near the top of Part A
• a quarter-wise summary of the amount paid and the tax deducted and deposited

A Part A without a certificate number did not come from TRACES. A self-typed Part A also tends to show round numbers in the quarterly summary and challan details that look made up.

TRACES offers two checks:

1. Verify TDS Certificate (employee's login). Log in to incometax.gov.in, open Form 26AS from the e-File menu (the portal takes you to TRACES), and choose Verify TDS Certificate under View / Verify Tax Credit. You enter the deductor's TAN, the certificate number, the year, the source of income and the TDS amount shown on the certificate. TRACES says whether the certificate matches. Menu labels on TRACES change from time to time, so look for the same words if the layout differs.
2. TDS/TCS credit check (no login). The Income Tax Department's TDS certificate verification page points to a TRACES page where you enter the deductee's PAN, the deductor's TAN, the financial year, the quarter and the type of return. It is useful to a third party who has the PAN and TAN from the certificate.

If either check fails, the first suspect is a typing mistake, then a TDS statement the employer filed late or corrected. Ask the employer for a fresh download before concluding anything.

Check 2: the TDS in Form 26AS and AIS

This is the strongest check, and only the employee can run it. The employer's TDS appears against the employee's PAN once the quarterly TDS statement (Form 24Q for FY 2025-26) is processed.

1. Log in to the e-filing portal and open Annual Information Statement (AIS) from the dashboard menu (or e-File > Income Tax Returns > View AIS), then click Proceed.
2. Open the AIS tile and choose the financial year.
3. Under TDS/TCS information, find the employer by TAN and compare the quarter-wise salary and TDS with Part A.
4. Form 26AS, Part I, shows the same TDS by deductor and is a second place to look.

A worked example. Part A from "ABC Technologies Pvt Ltd" for FY 2025-26 shows:

AIS shows salary and TDS against the same TAN for Q1 to Q3 only, totalling ₹1,10,100. The ₹36,700 for Q4 is missing. That is a red flag for the certificate but not proof of forgery: the employer may not have filed or processed the Q4 statement yet, or may have filed it under a wrong PAN. A genuine Part A is generated from the statement that TRACES processed, so a Part A showing Q4 while TRACES has no Q4 data deserves a direct question to the employer.

If the figures match, the TDS side of the certificate is real. For salary figures that don't match, see AIS salary doesn't match Form 16.

Check 3: the digital signature on the PDF

Many employers sign Form 16 with a DSC when they download it from TRACES. A signed PDF carries the signer's certificate and a cryptographic seal over the file. Change one figure and the seal breaks.

1. Open the PDF signature verifier and select the Form 16 or Form 130 PDF. The file is checked in your browser and isn't uploaded; only the issuers' public certificates are fetched through our server to complete the chain.
2. Read the result: - Signature is valid: the file is unchanged since it was signed, and the signer's certificate leads to an India CCA (Controller of Certifying Authorities) root. - Validity unknown: the file is unchanged, but the certificate doesn't lead to a CCA root, so who signed it can't be confirmed. - Signature is not valid: the file was changed after signing, or the signature doesn't match it.
3. Check the signer's name. It should be a person or officer of the employer, and ideally match the "verification" paragraph at the end of Part B.

Three things to keep in mind:

• A hand-signed Form 16 has no digital signature, and that is allowed. The check simply doesn't apply.
• A valid signature on a re-typed document proves only who signed it. It is the TRACES number and the AIS match that tie the figures to the department's records.
• A yellow question mark in Adobe Reader or a phone viewer isn't a fake. It means the viewer doesn't trust the CCA root. Why e-Aadhaar and other PDFs show a yellow question mark covers this.

For employers and landlords checking a candidate's Form 16

You can run check 3 yourself and the no-login TRACES check if you have the PAN and TAN. You can't open the candidate's AIS. Ask the candidate to show the AIS TDS entry for the employer, or to share figures from their own tax records with consent. How employers verify past salary in India and which income proof is hardest to fake cover the options.

Frequently asked questions

Can an employee download Form 16 from the income tax portal?

No. The employer downloads it from TRACES and issues it. The employee can see the same TDS in Form 26AS and AIS on the portal.

Is a Form 16 valid without a digital signature?

Yes. Part A can be authenticated by a manual signature or a digital signature. A hand-signed copy is valid, though only a digitally signed PDF can be checked for changes.

Part A matches TRACES, but Part B looks wrong. Is it fake?

Not necessarily. Part B is prepared by the employer and isn't generated by TRACES. Compare the gross salary with the salary in AIS, and raise differences with the employer's payroll team.

When will I get my first Form 130?

Form 130 covers salary paid from 1 April 2026, so the first ones are issued after Tax Year 2026-27 ends, by 15 June 2027. Your certificate for FY 2025-26 is a Form 16.

What should I do if the signature check says the document was changed?

Don't rely on that copy. Ask the employer for a fresh download from TRACES and check it again. A file that was opened and re-saved in another app can break the signature too.

Sources

• Income Tax Department: Form 16 and Form 16A
• Income Tax Department: Form 130 FAQs
• Income Tax Department: Forms 130, 131, 132 and 133 (earlier Forms 16, 16A, 16B to 16E and 27D)
• Income Tax Department: TDS certificate verification
• TRACES
• Income Tax e-filing portal: AIS FAQs
• Controller of Certifying Authorities: root certificates