What is Form 16 and Form 16 Password?

Form 16 is a TDS certificate that is issued by the employers to salaried employees when tax is deducted from salary. It summarizes the salary paid and the TDS deposited with the government. It is a crucial document required for verifying income and pre-filed data when filing your income tax return (ITR).

Form 16 includes several sensitive personal information like PAN number, address, salary tax, etc. So, employers secure the PDF with a password to avoid any kind of misuse or accidental sharing. The password is kept simple, typically based on your PAN and date of birth, but is unique for every employee.

Most employers set the Form 16 PDF password as the first 5 letters of your PAN (in uppercase) and your date of birth in the DDMMYYYY format. For example, if your PAN number is  ABCDE1234F and your date of birth is 01/01/1990, then your password will be ABCDE01011990.

Check that there are no typing errors in PAN, no extra spaces in between, correct case (uppercase vs lowercase), and the date of birth is written in the correct DDMMYYYY format with no slashes. If the PDF is still locked, then read the employer's email again or connect with the HR/payroll to confirm the exact password pattern that has been used.

Yes, once you have opened the Form 16 PDF with the password, you can use a PDF printer or a PDF editor to save a copy without the password for your own use. Store this unlocked copy safely and don't share it publicly.