Check your Annual Information Statement before filing your Income Tax Return

The Income Tax Department has made the tax filing process simpler and easier by releasing the Annual Information Statement (AIS) on its portal this week. The statement contains detailed information about a taxpayer’s financial transactions during the previous financial year. The statement for FY 2020-21 can be accessed by going to incometax.gov.in and clicking on the link ‘AIS’ under the ‘Services’ tab.

You May Also Refer: Income Tax Department rolls out new Annual Information Statement

Annual Information Statement (AIS)

• AIS is more comprehensive than the existing form 26AS, which only provides information on Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax Collected at Source (TCS) (TCS).
• It is a single reference document for taxpayers that contains complete and detailed information on salary, dividend, interest from savings accounts and deposits, securities and mutual fund transactions, off-market debt transactions, foreign remittances, and so on. In addition to AIS, a simplified Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) that provides an overall view of the financial transactions can be downloaded.
• It gives a glimpse of transactions done in advance, which reduces the likelihood of inquiries and notices from the department, even for minor errors.

What to do if I have already filed my ITR for FY 2020-21?

• If you have already filed an ITR for the financial year 2020-2021, you should double-check the information with AIS to ensure that there is no income mismatch.
• In case there is a mismatch, you should revise your ITR so as to avoid getting notices from department.
• AIS is a comprehensive database already present with the department. It is a proof that you cannot hide anything from the Income Tax Department.

What if the Information present in AIS is wrong?

Taxpayers must review their AIS on a regular basis. If they believe incorrect information has been reported in their AIS, they should contact the reporting entity immediately and keep all necessary documentation to prove that the incorrect transaction reported in their AIS does not belong to them.