TDS Deducted Twice - What Should I Do? How to Claim the Excess TDS?

If your ITR has already been processed and the TDS information was entered incorrectly, there is also a Tax Credit Mismatch Correction facility.

The Income Tax Department says this type of rectification can be used to correct TDS/TCS details in a processed return, including details such as the TAN, PAN or TDS amount. However, the correction should not be used to claim TDS credit that is not actually reflected in the relevant tax records.

I would therefore get the deductor's records corrected first if the underlying TDS statement is wrong.

I had a similar issue where the amount deducted from my payment looked correct, but the TDS information reported against my PAN was duplicated.

The Income Tax Department's tax-credit mismatch guidance says that where there is a TDS mismatch, the taxpayer should inform the employer or other deductor responsible for deducting the tax. The deductor can then file a revised TDS return to correct the reporting.

So I would compare:

1. Amount actually received
2. TDS shown on the payment statement
3. TDS certificate
4. Form 26AS
5. AIS

That should help determine whether you have a genuine double deduction or simply a duplicate/mistaken TDS entry.

I would first establish whether the tax was actually deducted twice or whether the same deduction has simply been reported incorrectly.

Check the payment statement, TDS certificate and your bank statement against Form 26AS and AIS. The Income Tax Department specifically recommends reconciling the TDS shown in your records with Form 26AS/AIS and contacting the employer, bank or other deductor if there is a discrepancy.

If there really were two separate deductions, keep evidence of both. If there was only one deduction but two TDS entries have been reported, that is a different problem and should generally be corrected by the deductor.

I wouldn't automatically claim both amounts just because they appear in the tax statement.