All About the New Annual Information Statement (AIS)

Annual Information Statement (AIS) is an extensive view of information for a taxpayer displayed in Form 26AS. It also accepts feedback from the taxpayers on the information displayed in AIS. 

AIS shows both reported value (value reported by the reporting entities) and modified value (i.e. the value after considering taxpayer’s feedback) for each type of information, i.e. TDS, SFT, other information, etc. 

AIS shows both reported value (value reported by the reporting entities) and modified value (i.e. the value after considering taxpayer’s feedback) for each type of information, i.e. TDS, SFT, other information, etc. 

AIS is introduced with the objective of – 

• Displaying complete information to the taxpayer with a facility to capture online feedback.
• Promote voluntary compliance and enable seamless prefilling of return.
• Deter non-compliance.

Salient features of AIS

Salient Features of AIS are:

• It includes new information – interest, dividend, securities transactions, mutual fund transactions, foreign remittance information, etc.
• Summary of AIS information in the form of Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) for ease of filing return (pre-filling will be enabled in a phased manner).
• Taxpayers will be able to submit online feedback on AIS’s information and download information in PDF, JSON, and CSV file formats.
• AIS Utility will enable taxpayers to view AIS and upload feedback in an offline manner.

Procedure to check your AIS

Step 1: To access your Annual Information Statement (AIS), log in to the income tax e-filing portal at www.incometax.gov.in. Go to ‘Services’>’Annual Information Statement’.

Step 2: Click on the ‘Proceed’ button.

Step 3: It will redirect you to the compliance portal. You can view Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) and Annual Information Statement (AIS) on the AIS home page. 

Step 4: Now select the relevant financial year, and you can view the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) or the Annual Information Statement (AIS) by clicking the relevant tiles.

Step 5: You can also download the AIS and TIS by clicking on the download icon in the respective tiles. You can download the TIS in PDF format. AIS can be downloaded in PDF or JSON formats

If you download the PDF file, it is password protected. To unlock, enter the password as a combination of the PAN (in upper case) and the date of birth in case of individual taxpayer or date of incorporation/formation for a non-individual taxpayer in the format DDMMYYYY without any space. 

For example, if the PAN is AAAAA1234A and the date of birth is 21st January 1991, your password will be AAAAA1234A21011991.

What are the different types of information shown in AIS?

The information is displayed in two parts. Part A and Part B.

PART A- General Information 

It displays general information such as PAN, masked Aadhaar number, name, date of birth/incorporation/formation, contact details of the taxpayer. 

PART- B 

• TDS/TCS Information – Information related to TDS/TCS is displayed here. The Information code of the TDS/TCS, Information description and Information value is shown. 
• SFT Information – Information received from reporting entities under Statement of Financial transaction (SFT) is displayed. The SFT code, Information description and Information value is made available. 
• Payment of Taxes – Information relating to taxes such as advance tax and self-assessment tax is shown. 
• Demand and Refund -Details of the demand raised and refund initiated (AY and amount) during a financial year. 
• Other Information: – Details of the information received from the other sources, such as data pertaining to Annexure II salary, Interest on refund, outward foreign remittance/purchase of foreign currency etc., is displayed here.

Difference between AIS and Form 26AS

Currently, the Form 26AS primarily displays details of property purchases, high-value investments, and TDS/TCS transactions carried out during the financial year. 

Annual Information Statement (AIS) is a much more detailed statement. It includes savings account interest, purchase and sale transactions of securities/immovable properties, foreign remittances, interest on deposits, etc. All the information is available in aggregate form as well as individual transaction wise.

If the taxpayer has earned Rs 1,700 savings account interest and Rs 42,000 interest on deposits from XYZ bank during the financial year, Form 26AS will only display Rs 42,000 deposit interest details on which TDS is deducted. At the same time, the annual information statement will show both the transaction details. In addition, the taxpayer can also see the bank account details from where the income was received, for example, bank name, bank account number, account type, etc. Similarly, it will display all other financial information of the previous year, such as rent received, salary, dividends, etc. 

AIS covers TDS/TCS transactions, SFT information, payment of taxes, demand or refund, and other information. However, if the taxpayer has to verify GST turnover based on the details furnished in Form GSTR-3B, it is visible only in Form 26AS. AIS does not capture GST details. 

Difference between AIS and Form 26AS

The taxpayer can submit feedback online or through offline mode. Through online mode, the feedback can be submitted only in the AIS section of the compliance portal. Let us see where to submit the feedback in the AIS section.

Go to the Annual Information Statement (AIS) tab (as discussed above). You can find various sections, such as TDS/TCS information, SFT information, payment of taxes, demand and refund and other information. 

For example, if you go to the SFT information section and select the information where you want to submit the feedback, click on the information.

On expanding the information category, you can choose the button ‘Optional’ to submit the feedback.

It will ask you to choose the feedback type.

The information will reflect the modified figure in bracket.

The modified value will be used to update the derived value in the Taxpayers Information Summary (TIS).

The derived value is then used to prefill the ITR form of the taxpayer.

What to do if there is an error in AIS or Form 26AS?

The AIS will include information that is presently available with the income tax department. As per the Income Tax Act, certain entities are obligated to report high-value transactions to the department. The information in AIS will be displayed only after the reporting entities furnish information to the income tax department. There may be chances that the data of a particular period is not updated. Hence, the taxpayers should check all related information and report complete and accurate information in the income tax return. The taxpayer may also follow a feedback mechanism to report errors in AIS.

Which form should a taxpayer refer to at the time of filing of ITR?

In case of variation between the TDS or TCS information or the details of tax paid as displayed in Form 26AS vs AIS, the taxpayer may rely on the information displayed in Form 26AS for return filing. However, if you have already filed your income tax return and have found additional info in AIS, you can revise it based on the information displayed in AIS. 

The said move will facilitate voluntary compliance and eliminate underreporting of income by the taxpayers.

Want to file ITR with AIS? Contact us below