Annual Information Statement (AIS) for AY 2026-27: How to Check, Fix Discrepancies, and File ITR

What is the Annual Information Statement and how does it affect ITR filing? The Annual Information Statement (AIS) aggregates income data reported to the Income Tax Department by employers, banks, brokers, and registrars. For AY 2026-27, AIS pre-fills ITR forms with salary, interest, dividends, and capital gains. Where AIS figures differ from your records, you must submit feedback and file with the correct amounts to avoid a mismatch notice.

The Annual Information Statement has become the single most important document to review before filing your Income Tax Return for AY 2026-27. Unlike Form 16 or bank statements, AIS reflects what third parties have already reported to the Income Tax Department about your income — and the department's automated system will match your ITR against that data. Understanding how Tax Garden's filing process works makes clear why reconciling AIS before submission is a prerequisite, not an afterthought.

What Is the Annual Information Statement (AIS)?

The Income Tax Department launched AIS in November 2021 under Section 285BB of the Income Tax Act, replacing the earlier Form 26AS in its role as a comprehensive income summary. AIS consolidates financial data from multiple reporting entities: employers (via TDS returns), banks (via SFT filings and interest reporting), mutual fund registrars, stock brokers, sub-registrars (for property transactions), and SEBI-registered intermediaries.

The central purpose of AIS is transparency. Before AIS, a taxpayer could inadvertently or deliberately omit income that had been reported to the department without a straightforward mechanism for the taxpayer to see what had been reported. AIS closes that gap. The department's compliance management system cross-references filed ITRs against AIS data, and discrepancies trigger automated notices.

AIS vs Form 26AS vs TIS: What Is the Difference?

Three documents are relevant before ITR filing, and confusing them causes errors.

Form 26AS is the older tax credit statement. It shows TDS deducted by employers, banks, and buyers; TCS collected; advance tax paid; and self-assessment tax challan details. Form 26AS is narrow: it reflects taxes already collected, not the underlying income in full.

AIS (Annual Information Statement) is comprehensive. Beyond everything in Form 26AS, AIS includes Specified Financial Transactions (SFT) reported under Section 285BA: cash deposits, cash withdrawals, fixed deposit openings, mutual fund purchases, credit card payments, foreign remittances, purchase or sale of immovable property, and dividend receipts. AIS also includes capital gains data as computed by brokers and registrars.

TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary) is derived from AIS. It aggregates and deduplicates AIS transactions into category-level totals — salary income, interest income, dividend income, capital gains — and these totals are what the ITR portal uses to pre-fill your return. If AIS has duplicate or incorrect transactions, TIS inherits those errors, which then flow into your pre-filled ITR.

The practical hierarchy: fix AIS first, TIS adjusts, pre-filled ITR improves.

How to Access and Download Your AIS

1. Log in to incometax.gov.in with your PAN credentials.
2. Navigate to Services > Annual Information Statement (AIS).
3. The portal opens a separate AIS tab. Select the relevant assessment year (AY 2026-27).
4. You can view transactions online or download the full statement in PDF or JSON format. The JSON download is machine-readable and useful for detailed reconciliation.

AIS is updated periodically as reporting entities submit quarterly or annual data. Bank interest and dividend data for FY 2025-26 typically appears in full by June 2026. If you are filing before June, some data may still be pending — download again closer to the filing deadline to ensure completeness.

What Data Does AIS Contain?

AIS for AY 2026-27 includes the following categories:

Salary and Pension: Gross salary as reported by employers in their TDS returns (Form 24Q). This should match Part B of your Form 16.

TDS and TCS: All TDS deducted across income sources and all TCS collected, by quarter and deductor.

Interest Income: Savings bank interest, fixed deposit interest, recurring deposit interest, and interest on bonds. Banks report FD interest on an accrual basis annually, regardless of when you withdrew it.

Dividend Income: Dividends received from equity shares and mutual funds as reported by companies and registrars (CDSL/NSDL/RTAs).

Capital Gains: Equity and mutual fund capital gains as computed by brokers using their records; immovable property sale proceeds at the stamp duty value as reported by sub-registrars under SFT.

GST Turnover: Aggregate turnover from GSTIN as reported in GSTR-1, visible for business taxpayers.

Foreign Remittances: Remittances received and sent, as reported by banks under LRS/FEMA reporting.

Specified Financial Transactions (SFT): Cash deposits above ₹10 lakh in a year, credit card bill payments above ₹1 lakh, purchase of mutual funds above ₹10 lakh, and purchase or sale of immovable property above ₹30 lakh.

Advance Tax and Self-Assessment Tax: Challans already paid, drawn from the government's tax payment records.

How to Submit Feedback for AIS Discrepancies

If any transaction in AIS is incorrect, duplicated, or relates to a different person, you must submit feedback using the AIS portal. The process:

1. In the AIS portal, click on any transaction to expand it.
2. Click the Feedback button on that transaction.
3. Select one of the five feedback categories:
   • Information is correct — confirms the transaction as-is.
   • Information is not fully correct — use this when the amount or detail is wrong; enter the correct value.
   • Information is duplicate/included in other information — use when the same income appears twice.
   • Information relates to other PAN/person — use when the transaction was reported against your PAN incorrectly.
   • Information is denied — use when you have no knowledge of the transaction at all.
4. Submit the feedback.

The feedback you submit goes to the reporting entity (bank, broker, employer) for review, not directly to the Income Tax Department. This means AIS does not update instantly. The reporting entity may correct their filing in a subsequent return, which then flows back into AIS. This process can take weeks or months.

Because of this lag, submitting AIS feedback alone is not sufficient for ITR filing purposes. You must also file your ITR with the figures you believe are correct. Our support team can assist if you are unsure which figures to use when AIS and your records conflict.

Common AIS Errors and How to Handle Each

FD interest on accrual vs cash basis: Banks report FD interest on an accrual basis each year, even if the FD matures in a future year. If you follow the cash method and plan to declare interest only at maturity, AIS will show more interest income than you declared. The correct approach under income tax law is to follow a consistent method — ideally accrual — and include interest each year as it accrues.

Capital gains with wrong cost basis: Brokers report sale proceeds and sometimes compute gains, but they do not always have the original purchase cost for holdings transferred from another broker or inherited. If AIS shows a capital gain higher than actual, file feedback citing incorrect information, retain proof of original cost (contract note, demat statement), and file ITR with the correct gain figure.

Property sale at stamp duty value: Sub-registrars report the stamp duty value (guideline value), not the actual agreement price. If you sold at ₹60 lakh but stamp duty value is ₹72 lakh, AIS shows ₹72 lakh. Capital gains tax applies on the higher of sale consideration or stamp duty value under Section 50C, so this may not cause a mismatch problem — but verify the calculation before filing.

Dividends from mutual funds appearing multiple times: Some dividends appear once as reported by the RTA and again via CDSL/NSDL. Submit feedback as "duplicate" for the duplicate entry.

Employer TDS not reflecting: If your employer has not filed their TDS return (Form 24Q) for Q4, TDS for January-March salary will not appear in AIS. Contact your employer's payroll team for Form 24Q filing status. You can still file ITR claiming TDS credit even if it is not in AIS — attach Form 16 as supporting documentation.

How AIS Pre-Fills Your ITR AY 2026-27

When you open an ITR form on the portal for AY 2026-27, the pre-fill option pulls data from TIS (the aggregated AIS). Each income category is pre-populated:

• Salary income from TIS salary figure
• Interest income by subcategory (savings, FD, bonds)
• Dividend income total
• Capital gains, separated by short-term and long-term, equity and non-equity
• TDS credits by section and deductor

You can accept, modify, or delete any pre-filled entry. If AIS has an incorrect income figure and you have already submitted feedback but AIS has not updated, modify the pre-filled value to the correct amount and provide a note (available in certain ITR schedules). Review our pricing page for details on assisted filing that includes AIS reconciliation as part of the service.

What If AIS Is Wrong and You File Anyway?

Filing an ITR with figures that differ from AIS without submitting feedback creates a mismatch. The Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) compares your declared income against AIS under Section 143(1)(a). If the CPC detects that you declared lower income than AIS shows, it will issue an intimation proposing to add the difference to your income and demand tax plus interest.

The correct protocol: submit AIS feedback for every transaction you dispute, and file ITR with your correct figures. Keep documentation (bank statements, broker contract notes, Form 16) ready to respond if an intimation still arrives. Responding to a 143(1)(a) intimation requires submitting an online response on the portal within 30 days of the intimation, with supporting evidence.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do if AIS shows income I did not receive?

Open the AIS portal, locate the transaction, and submit feedback selecting 'Information is denied' or 'Information relates to other PAN/person' as appropriate. Also file your ITR with the actual income figures you received. Maintain documentation (bank statements, contract notes) to support your position if the Income Tax Department raises a query. Do not simply ignore the discrepancy — both feedback submission and correct ITR filing are required.

Does submitting AIS feedback update my ITR automatically?

No. AIS feedback is routed to the reporting entity (bank, broker, employer) for correction in their subsequent filings. This can take weeks or months. Your filed ITR is separate from AIS. If you submit feedback and the AIS still shows wrong data at the time of filing, file with the correct figures and explain the discrepancy. The department's intimation process under Section 143(1)(a) allows you to respond with evidence if a mismatch notice is issued.

My employer's TDS is not showing in AIS. What should I do?

TDS from salary appears in AIS only after your employer files their quarterly TDS return (Form 24Q). If Q4 TDS is missing, contact your employer's payroll department to confirm Form 24Q filing status. You can still claim the TDS credit in your ITR using the figures from your Form 16 — the claim is valid even if the amount does not appear in AIS at the time of filing. The credit will reconcile once the employer files their return.

Can I file ITR if AIS has unresolved discrepancies?

Yes. You are not required to wait for AIS to update before filing. Submit feedback for each disputed transaction and file ITR with the income figures you believe are correct and can substantiate with documents. If the CPC's automated processing finds a mismatch, it will issue an intimation under Section 143(1)(a) giving you 30 days to respond. Filing with correct figures and having documentation ready is the standard practitioner approach.

Sources: Income Tax Department AIS portal documentation (incometax.gov.in), Section 285BB of the Income Tax Act 1961 (inserted by Finance Act 2020), CBDT Notification No. 30/2021 dated May 28 2021 prescribing the AIS format, and Section 143(1)(a) intimation procedure as updated for AY 2026-27.