A job candidate recently wrote in a Reddit post that he was aghast when a multinational corporation (MNC) checked his income tax returns (ITRs) apart from other documents, such as relieving letters, payslips, and UAN history. He mentioned in his post that he has been working for 6-7 years, and this was a first for him.
“There is 1 company I joined for 2 days and left — I never took a salary from them. I never showed them employment history, nor had any PF account created from them. Still, somehow it showed up in my ITR record, and the BGV company is demanding explanations about it,” he said in the post.
He added that he told the MNC it could be since the previous company may have created a preliminary record for laptop logistics during the interview process, but he never worked there. He said that he asked the HR to specifically look into his UAN service history to confirm the same.
Going forward, he expressed concerns about the company accessing his ITR data, stating that it is his private financial information. “Why should HR know how much you earn from various sources? I’m more worried about the fact that my dad owns a business; we get a lot of money from contractors and whatnot through my account. If they ask more questions about this, not sure what I will say,” the user wrote.
His post went viral in no time, with netizens saying that the HR has no business knowing the candidate’s ITR data.
“The Income Tax returns are usually asked through Form-26AS, which usually details all the incomes that one has received, especially if the organisation pays taxes. It’s a very private/intimate personal data and it also has a very high potential of being misused due to jealousies if it gets into wrong hands. Things need to be better,” a user commented.
Replying to this, a user shared their own experience. “Form-26AS is a killer for freelancers and moonlighters. I had gotten an offer from an MNC and they asked my ITR portal credentials through a 3rd party vendor when doing background verification. 1st year as a freelancer, I gave my savings account to the client and they were a small company they deducted 10% TDS. From the next year, I started giving my mother’s accounts for payments,” the user said.
“It’s definitely a very big red flag and will put you in a competitive disadvantage if the employer comes to know how much did you exactly earn. How greedy can employers get? And can you post the background verification company details here, please? So we all can watch out for it,” a third user wrote.
A fourth user weighed in: “Yeah, that sounds super frustrating and honestly, a bit invasive. You’re right, ITRs are private financial documents, not something HR should be digging into. You did the right thing by pointing them to your UAN record since that’s the official proof of actual employment. If they ask again, just stick to the facts: you never worked there, no PF, no salary, case closed. Honestly, some MNCs are going overboard with these background checks lately.”