All About Annual Information Statement (AIS)

Before understanding AIS, it becomes essential to discuss about Form 26AS. A statement comprising of details regarding tax deducted at source or tax collected at source against a taxpayer’s PAN is known as Form 26AS. It also consists of details of any advance tax, self-assessment tax paid by the taxpayer. At the time of filing income-tax returns, the details entered by the taxpayer cannot be different from the details mentioned in Form 26AS.

Annual Information Statement (AIS) is an extension of Form 26AS. Apart from the information captured in Form 26AS, AIS includes detailed additional information relating to interest, dividend, rent received, GST turnover, securities/mutual fund transactions, foreign remittance information, high value transactions like real estate deals, any demand raised by the department on the individual, etc.

AIS is similar to 26AS Statement; however, it is an upgraded form of 26AS Statement i.e. it comprises more data as compared to 26AS Statement. All the information that is available in 26AS Statement is already included in AIS. The intent of the government behind introduction of AIS is to eventually scrap 26AS Statement and maintain AIS for future references. Thus, it is a phase-out process of 26AS which is being replaced with an updated form i.e., AIS.

AIS consists of information about the various types of income earned by the taxpayer for a given financial year, irrespective of whether TDS has been deducted on the same or not. Such incomes have been enumerated below:

• Interest earned from Recurring Deposit/Fixed Deposit/Savings Bank (SB) Account
• Capital Gain earned with bifurcation of equity/non-equity oriented mutual fund, listed/unlisted security, short/long-term gain, etc.
• Dividend Income

Apart from the income details, there is certain transaction-related information also which gets reflected in the AIS. Other information which gets captured in the AIS includes the following:

• Cash deposits in excess of Rs. 10 Lakhs in Non-Resident External (NRE)/ SB Account
• Fixed Deposits above Rs. 10 Lakhs
• Cash payments to credit card in excess of Rs. 1 Lakh
• Credit card payments in excess of Rs. 10 Lakhs in a year
• Purchase of assets like bonds/shares/mutual funds
• Forex transactions
• Taxes paid/refunded
• Tax demand raised
• Purchase/Sale of properties with value of Rs. 30 Lakhs or more.

Thus, government is writing a taxpayer’s horoscope for the entire year, and he/ she cannot escape disclosure of any transaction/ income while filing the return of income at the year end.

It is quite possible that mistakes are evident in the entries of AIS. Clerical error could be the primary reason. For instance, there are chances of information being reflected twice, error in values entered in the AIS, person reporting the information may enter incorrect PAN, etc. all of which need to be handled by the taxpayer.

AIS furnishes comprehensive insights into a taxpayer’s financial activities throughout a fiscal year, encompassing details such as TDS/TCS records, stock market dealings, mutual fund transactions, among others. Conversely, Taxpayer’s Information Summary (TIS) offers a summary of a taxpayer’s income tax filings, along with information on any demands or refunds during the fiscal period. AIS aids in aligning income and investments for accurate income tax return submissions, while consistent monitoring of TIS facilitates the tracking of refund statuses accordingly.

Although the system has a scope of errors, but at the same time, it is also geared to take back the feedback if the information is not in order. The system has a provision to complain/give feedback against each entry. Also, the taxpayer can write to the counterparty to rectify the error.

In case error exists in the AIS, and rectification of the same is a time-consuming process, the taxpayer can easily file the return of income based on the factual information, as the government has given a resolution for the same viz, while processing the return of income at the Central Processing Centre (CPC), the AIS is currently not considered for comparison with the return of income.

Earlier, AIS was merely an internal document of the income-tax authorities, but lately the same has been made a public document. Thus, if at all a scrutiny/assessment is being picked up in one’s case for verification by the income-tax authority, the taxpayer must be well prepared with the documentary evidence to prove his/her case.

AIS is a dynamic statement i.e. as and when the entries keep getting updated, the same get reflected in the statement. There can be a time lag, as it depends on the timelines stipulated for reporting, so one must keep checking AIS periodically. For instance, if a third party is supposed to file a quarterly statement, the entries reported up to December may probably be found in the same assessment year, but, if the party is required to file only an annual return, the same may get reflected in the AIS only after May/June of subsequent assessment year.

The taxpayer has to login to his/her Income-tax account on the e-filing portal, where he/she is filing the return of income. Under the Services Tab, AIS is available to be downloaded in various formats (PDF, JSON, CSV).