[FAQs] Income Tax Returns (ITR) | Annual Information Statement (AIS)

The Government has expanded the scope of Form 26AS to include detailed information about various financial transactions carried out by an individual throughout the year. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT[1]) has replaced Rule 31AB with a new Rule 114-I, mandating uploading the Annual Information Statement (AIS) in Form No. 26AS to the taxpayer’s registered account. This form contains information such as:

• Details of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax Collected at Source (TCS).
• Specified Financial Transactions (SFT).
• Tax payments.
• Details of demands and refunds.
• Status of pending proceedings.
• Information on completed proceedings.
• Data received from any authority or individual under any law or under agreements as per sections 90 and 90A, and any other relevant data deemed necessary for revenue interests.

This information in the AIS is used to pre-fill relevant sections of the Income-tax Return (ITR) form.

Taxpayers can view their AIS by logging into their income-tax e-filing account. If any details in the AIS appear to be incorrect, duplicate or pertain to another individual, taxpayers can provide feedback directly through the portal. They can also access AIS information via an offline utility if preferred.

Follow these steps to access AIS information online:

Step 1 – Log in to the Income-tax e-filing website at https://www.incometax.gov.in/. New users must register first.

Step 2 – After logging in, navigate to Services > Annual Information Statement (AIS).

Step 3 – A prompt will appear; click ‘proceed’ to be redirected to the AIS homepage.

Step 4 – The next screen will show the AIS and Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) instructions. The TIS categorises AIS data and shows original and revised values used to pre-fill the tax return.

Step 5 – Click on the ‘AIS‘ tab. You will see two options: Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) and Annual Information Statement (AIS). Choose the financial year from the dropdown and click on the AIS tile to view the information.

Step 6 – AIS information is divided into Part A and Part B on the next screen.

• Part A includes general taxpayer information (e.g., PAN, Aadhaar, Name, Date of Birth, Mobile Number, Email ID, Address).
• Part B contains detailed financial data for the selected year, including:

1. 1. TDS/TCS Information
   2. SFT Information
   3. Tax Payments
   4. Demands and Refunds
   5. Other Information

Step 7 – AIS data can be downloaded in CSV, JSON, or PDF formats. CSV downloads are per transaction category, while the entire AIS can be downloaded in PDF or JSON. Note that PDFs are password-protected. The password combines the PAN (in lowercase) and the date of birth or incorporation, formatted as DDMMYYYY without spaces.

For example, if the PAN is AAAAA1234A and the date of birth is January 21, 1991, the password will be aaaaa1234a21011991.

If a taxpayer finds any incorrect, duplicate, or unrelated information in the AIS, they can submit feedback online through the income-tax e-filing portal or via an offline utility.

To provide feedback on AIS information, follow these steps:

Step 1 – Visit the Income-tax e-filing portal and access the AIS.

Step 2 – In the AIS, detailed financial data for the selected year is available under Part B in various categories:

• TDS/TCS Information
• SFT Information
• Tax Payments
• Demands and Refunds
• Other Information

Step 3 – Click on the relevant category tab to view detailed information.

Step 4 – Click the left-hand icon to expand and view transaction-level details.

Step 5 – To provide feedback, click on the ‘Optional’ tab in the feedback column for the concerned transaction. Feedback can be submitted in bulk for multiple transactions.

Taxpayers can select from various feedback options, such as:

• Information is correct.
• Information is not fully correct.
• Information pertains to another PAN/year.
• Information is duplicate/included elsewhere.
• Information is denied.
• Custom feedback based on the transaction type, including an option for ‘Income is not taxable’ for income-related transactions.

Step 6 – After submitting feedback, a success message will appear, indicating that the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS)[2] will be updated accordingly. The feedback may also be shared with the information source for further review. An acknowledgement receipt can be downloaded from the activity history.