Form 26AS vs AIS vs TIS: How to reconcile the three statements before filing ITR

The first thing the Income Tax Department compares your ITR against is no longer Form 26AS — it is the Annual Information Statement (AIS). For Assessment Year 2026-27, the prefill that the e-filing portal pulls into ITR-1/ITR-2 is driven by the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS), a condensed view of the AIS. Form 26AS has shrunk to a TDS/TCS and tax-payment ledger. Get the reconciliation wrong before 31 July 2026 and a Section 143(1) intimation lands within months, usually with extra tax and interest under Section 234B.

This morning's tip walks through what each statement contains, where they diverge, and the feedback workflow that closes a mismatch before you file.

What the Section Says

Form 26AS in its current form is governed by Rule 114-I of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, notified by CBDT on 28 May 2020 via Notification No. 30/2020. The notification replaced the older Section 203AA framework and re-scoped 26AS into an "Annual Information Statement" — though CBDT later launched a different, much wider statement under the same broad name. Today, Form 26AS is a tax-credit ledger: TDS deducted under Chapter XVII-B, TCS collected under Section 206C, advance tax and self-assessment tax paid via challans, refunds issued under Section 143(1)/245, and a residual list of high-value transactions reported by deductors.

The AIS was rolled out by CBDT on 1 November 2021 under the powers in Section 285BA read with Rule 114E. It aggregates more than fifty categories: Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) filed by banks, mutual funds, registrars and depositories; dividend payouts; savings-bank and term-deposit interest; sale and purchase of securities; foreign remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS); GST turnover; and rent paid where Section 194-IB TDS applies. CBDT's official AIS user guide describes it as the consolidated information available with the department against your Permanent Account Number (PAN).

The TIS is the third layer. It rolls each AIS information category into two derived values — the "processed value" (after reconciling reporter-side de-duplication) and the "derived value" (after factoring in any taxpayer feedback). The TIS figures silently pre-populate the relevant schedules of your ITR. If you accept the prefill without reconciling, you are accepting TIS, not your books.

Worked Example

Take Priya, a 38-year-old product manager based in Bengaluru with a gross salary of Rs 28,40,000 for FY 2025-26. She holds a non-cumulative fixed deposit, two mutual fund folios and a small equity portfolio. Her records show: salary TDS of Rs 4,12,500 under Section 192, bank interest of Rs 47,800 with Rs 4,780 TDS under Section 194A, equity dividend of Rs 12,300 (no TDS, since below the Section 194 threshold of Rs 10,000 per company), and a Rs 1,82,000 long-term capital gain on equity mutual fund redemption.

On 12 June 2026 she logs into incometax.gov.in and downloads all three statements.

Two issues jump out. First, the interest figure in AIS is Rs 8,300 higher than her tracking. On drilling down, she finds the SFT-016 entry from her second savings account has reported FY 2024-25 interest credited in April 2025 — a year-end accrual the bank has booked into the wrong financial year. Second, the LTCG figure in AIS is the gross sale consideration, not the gain; she will enter the cost of acquisition in Schedule CG of her ITR-2 to bring the taxable LTCG down to Rs 1,82,000, taxed at 12.5% under Section 112A above the Rs 1,25,000 annual exemption (Finance Act 2024 raised both the rate and the exemption threshold from 10% / Rs 1,00,000).

Priya opens the AIS, clicks the interest line, and submits feedback type "Information is not fully correct" with the corrected figure of Rs 47,800 and a note referencing her bank statement. Within 48 hours the TIS recomputes to Rs 47,800. The AIS Activity History logs the change with a timestamp. She then files ITR-2 with the corrected interest and reconciled TDS credits. Our income tax calculator and capital gains calculator will mirror the same numbers.

Common Mistakes

Five reconciliation errors show up repeatedly in Section 143(1) intimations issued by the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) at Bengaluru.

1. Treating 26AS as authoritative for income. Form 26AS shows income amounts only where TDS was deducted, and even then only the reporter's view. Dividend below Rs 10,000 from a single company, interest below Rs 40,000 (Rs 50,000 for senior citizens) at any single bank branch, and most equity sales will not appear in 26AS at all — but they will surface in AIS. Filing using 26AS as your income source guarantees an under-reporting flag.

2. Ignoring the SFT lag. Reporting entities have until 31 May following the financial year to file Form 61A under Rule 114E. A redemption you made on 28 March 2026 may not appear in AIS until early June 2026. Filing your ITR on 1 May 2026 may show zero capital gains in AIS, but the CPC will reprocess the comparison after AIS is fully populated and the intimation will arrive in October. Wait until at least the second week of June unless your income is salary-only.

3. Submitting feedback after filing. AIS feedback overwrites TIS, not your filed ITR. If you correct AIS in August after filing in July, the ITR-CPC mismatch persists. Always reconcile and submit feedback first, wait for the TIS to refresh (the portal commits to a forty-eight hour cycle), and only then file.

4. Missing the dual reporting of mutual fund transactions. Both the Asset Management Company and the depository (CDSL/NSDL) report securities transactions to the SFT system. AIS de-duplication catches most overlaps, but switch transactions between schemes of the same AMC are sometimes reported by both legs. Use "Information is duplicate" — not "Information is denied" — to flag this without disputing the underlying transaction.

5. Forgetting the foreign assets schedule. AIS flags LRS outward remittances under SFT-013 once they cross Rs 7 lakh in a financial year (the threshold for TCS at 20% under Section 206C(1G) after the Finance Act 2023 amendment, with the Finance Act 2025 leaving the rate intact for non-education, non-medical remittances). If you have remitted abroad for investments, your Schedule FA disclosure must independently capture every foreign asset held during the year. The penalty under Section 43 of the Black Money Act, 2015 is a flat Rs 10 lakh per year of non-disclosure.

The Feedback Workflow

The feedback module inside AIS is the most under-used tool on the e-filing portal. There are six feedback codes, each mapped to a specific scenario.

Each feedback entry generates an "Activity ID" that you can quote if the matter escalates to a Section 143(2) scrutiny notice. The Section 144B faceless assessment framework now expects taxpayers to produce this trail.

FAQ

Does Form 26AS still matter at all?

Yes, for tax credits. The CPC computes your Section 234B/234C interest based on the advance tax and TDS captured in 26AS, not AIS. Always download both, and ensure your Schedule TDS in the ITR matches 26AS line-by-line. The TDS calculator confirms that deducted amounts align with the applicable rate.

What if AIS shows income I do not recognise?

Use "Information is denied" only after confirming with the reporter (your bank, broker or AMC). A frequent cause is a PAN typo — your number being incorrectly tagged to someone else's transaction. The portal allows you to attach supporting documents up to 5 MB per feedback entry. If the reporter corrects their SFT filing, the line disappears from AIS at the next refresh cycle.

Is the prefilled ITR safe to accept as is?

Only if your AIS is clean. The prefill draws from TIS, so any uncorrected mismatch carries into your draft ITR. Toggle off the prefilled values for income heads where you have submitted feedback, and re-enter the corrected figure from your books.

How does the 4-year ITR-U window interact with AIS mismatches?

Finance Act 2025 extended the time limit for updated returns under Section 139(8A) from 24 months to 48 months from the end of the relevant Assessment Year. Additional tax escalates from 25% (filed within 12 months of AY end) to 50%, 60% and 70% in subsequent 12-month bands. AIS mismatches are the most common ITR-U trigger, so the wider window is welcome — but the additional tax makes pre-filing reconciliation far cheaper. Use our old vs new regime comparator before committing to a regime in any updated return.

Will the AIS show my crypto trades?

Yes. Section 194S TDS at 1% on VDA transfers above Rs 50,000 per year (Rs 10,000 for specified persons) is reported by the exchange and appears in both 26AS and AIS. The gain itself is taxable at a flat 30% under Section 115BBH with no offset of losses across VDAs, as held by the Mumbai ITAT in cases tracked on Indian Kanoon. Reconcile the gross transfer value carefully — exchanges often report per-leg.

What is the cut-off date for AIS feedback?

There is no statutory cut-off, but practically, submit feedback before you file the ITR for that year. Post-filing feedback will not auto-revise your return; you would need a revised return under Section 139(5) by 31 December 2026 for AY 2026-27, or an updated return under Section 139(8A) thereafter.

Can I download AIS for past years?

Yes. The portal retains AIS data from FY 2020-21 onwards. If you are reopening returns under Section 148 — see our Section 148 reassessment timeline guide — pull the AIS for the relevant year first; the Assessing Officer's notice will almost always cite the AIS line item that triggered the proceedings.

The discipline is simple: download Form 26AS, AIS and TIS together, reconcile each line, lodge feedback for every divergence, and only then click "Verify and Submit". Half an hour spent in the AIS module beats half a year answering a faceless assessment.