Check Your AIS Before Filing: Why the Annual Information Statement Catches Income Form 26AS Misses

Most salaried taxpayers open the e-filing portal, glance at the pre-filled ITR, and hit submit. That habit was relatively safe when Form 26AS was the only mirror of your income with the tax department. Since the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) rolled out the Annual Information Statement (AIS) on 1 November 2021, the picture is far wider, and the gaps between what you remember earning and what the department already knows can trigger a notice months after you file. With the ITR filing window for Assessment Year 2026-27 open, reconciling your AIS before you file is the single highest-value 20 minutes you can spend on your return.

The reason is structural. Form 26AS shows only tax that was deducted or collected at source. The AIS pulls in dozens of other reporting streams, from savings-account interest of a few hundred rupees to a Rs 30 lakh property sale, regardless of whether any tax was withheld. If you file on memory alone and the department's database disagrees, the mismatch is flagged automatically. This article walks through what the statute requires, a worked example showing exactly how much tax an overlooked AIS entry can cost, the mistakes that surface most often in scrutiny, and the questions readers ask us most.

What the Section Says

The legal backbone of the AIS is Section 285BB of the Income-tax Act, 1961, inserted by the Finance Act 2020 with effect from 1 June 2020. It directs the prescribed income-tax authority to upload an annual information statement in the prescribed form, containing such information as is in the possession of the department, into the registered account of the assessee. In plain English: the law obliges the tax department to hand you, in one place, a consolidated record of the financial information it has gathered about you for the year.

According to the Income Tax Department's official AIS help documentation on incometax.gov.in, the statement is organised into two parts. Part A carries your general identification details: PAN, masked Aadhaar, name, date of birth, and contact information. Part B is the substantive section and is far broader than Form 26AS. It reports TDS and TCS, Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) data, tax payments, any demand or refund, and crucially a long list of income and transaction categories: salary, interest from savings accounts and deposits, dividend, rent received, sale and purchase of securities and immovable property, foreign remittances, and GST turnover.

The contrast with Form 26AS is the whole point. As the department's portal documentation states, Form 26AS displays only TDS and TCS information. The AIS is the comprehensive view. So a Rs 8,000 savings-interest credit on which the bank deducted no tax never appears in 26AS, but it does appear in your AIS as a reported figure. Because the AIS feeds the pre-filling engine for your return, the income the department expects to see in your ITR increasingly comes from this wider net, not the narrow TDS ledger that taxpayers historically relied on. You can review the statement after logging in to the portal and opening the AIS menu under the Services tab.

The AIS is also a two-way document. Where a reported transaction is wrong, duplicated, or relates to someone else, you can submit feedback against that line item. The system then displays a "modified value" alongside the original "reported value," so both the figure the source reported and your corrected figure sit side by side. That feedback does not delete the entry; it records your position, which matters if the same transaction is later questioned. The table below summarises the difference in scope.

Worked Example

Consider Neha, a salaried professional in Pune filing under the new tax regime for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27). Her Form 16 shows gross salary of Rs 13,75,000. After the new-regime standard deduction of Rs 75,000, her salary income is Rs 13,00,000. When she opens her pre-filled ITR, the salary lines up neatly with Form 26AS, because tax was deducted there.

What 26AS does not show, but her AIS does, are two entries on which no tax was withheld: savings-account and deposit interest of Rs 9,000, and dividend income of Rs 18,000 from her equity holdings. Both appear in Part B of her AIS because the bank and the registrar reported them under the SFT and dividend reporting streams. That is Rs 27,000 of taxable income the department already knows about. Her correct total income is therefore Rs 13,27,000, not the Rs 13,00,000 she might have filed on memory.

The tax difference is small in rupees but decisive in principle. The table below computes her liability under the FY 2025-26 new-regime slabs both ways.

The Rs 27,000 she nearly overlooked adds Rs 4,212 to her liability. Note that no Section 87A rebate applies here, because her total income exceeds the Rs 12,00,000 new-regime rebate threshold for FY 2025-26. Had her income been at or below Rs 12,00,000, the rebate of up to Rs 60,000 would have reduced the tax to nil, but the moment AIS income pushes her past the threshold, every additional rupee is taxed at her slab rate. If Neha files on the lower figure, the AIS-versus-return mismatch is flagged automatically, and she risks a defective-return or under-reporting query, plus interest. You can run your own numbers on the income tax calculator and compare regimes on the old vs new regime tool before you finalise the return.

Common Mistakes

The errors that surface most often when an AIS-driven mismatch reaches scrutiny are predictable, and almost all of them are avoidable with a careful read before filing.

Treating Form 26AS as the full picture. This is the headline mistake. Because 26AS reports only TDS and TCS, taxpayers who reconcile against it alone routinely miss savings interest, fixed-deposit interest below the TDS threshold, and dividends. The AIS captures all of these. Filing on the narrower document understates income and invites a query.

Ignoring the feedback facility. When an AIS entry is genuinely wrong, a sale double-counted, a joint account's full interest shown against one holder, or a transaction belonging to a family member, taxpayers often do nothing, then simply leave it out of the return. The correct route is to submit feedback so the AIS records a modified value beside the reported value. Silence plus omission reads, to the system, as under-reporting.

Forgetting that gross figures need adjustment. AIS often reports gross sale consideration for securities and property, not the taxable gain. A Rs 30 lakh property sale shows the consideration, but your capital gain after cost and indexation, where applicable, may be a fraction of that. Taxpayers either panic and over-report, or ignore the entry entirely. Neither is right; the figure must be reconciled to the correct taxable amount and reported in the relevant schedule.

Filing before the AIS fully populates. Reporting entities update the department through the year, so an AIS read in early April may be incomplete. Filing too early, before quarterly TDS statements and SFT data settle, means you reconcile against a partial statement and may need a revised return later. Cross-check both AIS and 26AS close to your actual filing date.

Confusing the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) with the AIS. The TIS is the simplified, category-wise derived summary; the AIS is the granular, transaction-level record. The TIS value can already reflect your feedback. Reconciling only the summary and skipping the line items means you may never spot a single erroneous entry that is pulling your numbers off.

FAQ

What is the difference between AIS and Form 26AS?

Form 26AS shows only tax deducted or collected at source (TDS and TCS), per the Income Tax Department portal. The AIS, mandated by Section 285BB and live since 1 November 2021, is far broader: it adds savings and deposit interest, dividend, rent, securities and property transactions, foreign remittances, and GST turnover in Part B. Reconcile both before filing, not just 26AS.

Where do I find my AIS?

Log in to the e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in with your PAN, then open the AIS menu under the Services tab. The statement is delivered to your registered account as required by Section 285BB. You can view it on screen or download it; a password-protected PDF is also available.

Can I correct a wrong entry in my AIS?

Yes. The AIS includes a feedback facility for every reported line. If a transaction is incorrect, duplicated, or not yours, submit feedback and the system displays your "modified value" alongside the original "reported value." The original entry is not deleted, but your corrected position is recorded against it, which is important if the item is later examined.

Does the AIS pre-fill my return automatically?

The AIS feeds the pre-filling engine, so many income lines in your ITR are populated from it. However, pre-filled does not mean final. You must verify every figure against your own records, because the AIS reports gross amounts for items such as securities and property sales, which then need adjustment to the correct taxable amount before you file.

What happens if my return does not match my AIS?

A mismatch is flagged in the department's systems and can lead to a communication seeking an explanation, a defective-return notice, or an under-reporting query, often with interest. As the worked example shows, even a Rs 27,000 overlooked AIS entry creates additional tax of Rs 4,212 plus exposure. Reconciling before you file is far cheaper than responding to a notice afterwards.

Is savings-account interest really in my AIS even if no tax was deducted?

Yes, and this is the most common trap. Banks report interest credits regardless of whether any TDS was applied, so a Rs 9,000 savings-interest entry that never appears in Form 26AS does appear in your AIS. It is taxable and must be included in your return. Old-regime filers can claim the Section 80TTA deduction of up to Rs 10,000 on savings interest, but the income must still be reported first.

Should I file early in April or wait?

Wait until your AIS and 26AS have stabilised. Reporting entities continue to update the department through the early months of the assessment year, so an AIS read in April may be incomplete. Reconcile close to your actual filing date so you are matching against the final figures, not a partial statement, and avoid having to file a revised return.