How to Read Your Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Fix Errors Before Filing ITR

Every year, the Income Tax Department’s automated processing system — which handles ITR filings under Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act — compares what you declared in your return with what your bank, broker, mutual fund registrar, and property registrar already told the department. If those two pictures don’t match, a demand notice follows. No human required. It’s fully automated.

The document that contains everything the department was told about you is called the Annual Information Statement (AIS). Over 5 crore taxpayers accessed their AIS during the last filing cycle, according to Income Tax Department data. A fraction of them caught and corrected genuine errors before filing. Most of the rest filed against a pre-fill and hoped for the best.

That hope doesn’t always pay off. This guide covers how to actually read your AIS for AY 2026-27, find what’s wrong, fix it the right way — and what to do if your deadline has already passed.

What Is AIS — and Why It Replaced Form 26AS as the Primary Cross-Check

Form 26AS has existed since 2005. For years, it was the document you checked before filing — it showed Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax Collected at Source (TCS) deposited against your Permanent Account Number (PAN). If your employer deducted ₹78,000 in TDS during FY 2025-26, Form 26AS confirmed that ₹78,000 was deposited.

That is still what Form 26AS does. But it covers only TDS and TCS.

The Annual Information Statement (AIS) is a completely different beast. Introduced by the Income Tax Department in November 2021 under Section 285BB of the Income Tax Act, 1961, it aggregates data from banks, stockbrokers, depositories, mutual fund houses, property registrars, and others — all of whom file Specified Financial Transaction (SFT) reports under Section 285BA of the Income Tax Act, which requires these financial institutions to report specified high-value transactions to the department annually. The result is a statement that shows not just your TDS but your actual financial life for the year.

AIS captures your:

• Salary and pension (from employer TDS filings)
• Savings bank interest (from banks under SFT-016)
• Fixed deposit interest (under TDS Section 194A, where TDS applies)
• Dividend income (from companies and mutual fund houses)
• Capital gains — from equity, mutual funds, debt funds (transaction-wise data from depositories and registrars)
• Property purchases and sales above ₹30 lakh (from sub-registrars under SFT-012)
• Credit card spends above ₹10 lakh per year (from card issuers under SFT-017 — this is a reporting threshold, not an income trigger)
• Cash deposits above ₹10 lakh in savings accounts (from banks)
• Foreign remittances — outward remittances (from authorised dealers under SFT-013)

When your ITR reaches the CPC for processing under Section 143(1), this is exactly what it’s compared against. A mismatch between your declared income and what AIS shows is the single most common trigger for automated notices.

One critical 2026 update: The new Income Tax Act, 2025 — which came into force on April 1, 2026 — renames AIS as “Form 168” (Section 510, replacing Section 285BB). But this renaming applies only from Tax Year 2026-27 onwards, i.e., income earned after April 1, 2026. For the current AY 2026-27 filing covering FY 2025-26 income, the document is still AIS, and the portal still shows it as AIS. You don’t need to look for Form 168 anywhere this year. (Source: ClearTax, July 2026; DraftLegalAI, July 2026)

AIS vs Form 26AS vs TIS: Which Document Does What

A lot of filers get confused about why three documents exist. Here’s the clearest breakdown:

The practical hierarchy: If Form 26AS and AIS show different TDS figures, use Form 26AS to claim your TDS credit. But for income reporting — salary, interest, dividends, capital gains — AIS is the document the department uses to cross-check your ITR.

The Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) is the processed version. After you submit feedback on AIS entries, TIS updates to reflect the modified figures and pre-fills your ITR accordingly. Think of AIS as the raw data, TIS as the cleaned version, and Form 26AS as the official TDS record.

Important: even if all three documents are perfect, you must still declare every source of income. AIS is not the complete picture — it captures only what reporting entities have filed. Your legal obligation is to declare the actual income, not just what AIS shows.

How to Access Your AIS — Step by Step

Step 1: Log in to the Income Tax e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in using your PAN and password.

Step 2: Click Services in the top navigation → select Annual Information Statement (AIS) → click Proceed.

Step 3: You’ll be redirected to the AIS Compliance Portal. You’ll see two tiles: AIS and TIS. Click the AIS tile.

Step 4: Select FY 2025-26 from the financial year dropdown.

Step 5: Review the AIS on screen, or download it. Available formats: PDF (easiest for manual review), JSON (for software), or CSV (category-wise, for spreadsheet review).

AIS PDF password: The downloaded PDF is protected. Password formula: PAN in lowercase + date of birth in DDMMYYYY format — no spaces. For example: PAN is ABCDE1234F, DOB is 15 March 1990 → password is abcde1234f15031990. For companies and firms, substitute date of incorporation instead of date of birth.

The AIS mobile app: The Income Tax Department has released the AIS for Taxpayer app — available on Android (Google Play) and iOS (App Store). It lets you review your AIS, submit feedback, and track correction status without logging into the full web portal.

What’s Inside Your AIS — Part A and Part B Decoded

Part A — Your Basic Details

Name, PAN, masked Aadhaar number (last 4 digits visible), address, date of birth or incorporation, and contact information. Most people skip Part A. Don’t.

If there’s a name spelling error or a PAN mismatch, third-party data may be incorrectly mapped to your account — or mapped correctly but appearing under the wrong taxpayer’s AIS. If your Part A details look off, contact the PAN services unit (NSDL or UTIITSL) to correct the underlying record.

Part B — Your Financial Transactions

This is the main event. Part B has five sub-sections:

1. TDS/TCS Information — All tax deducted at source and tax collected at source linked to your PAN during FY 2025-26. Includes TDS on salary, TDS on FD interest above ₹40,000 (₹50,000 for senior citizens), TDS on rent above ₹50,000 per month, TDS on dividends above ₹5,000, and TCS on vehicle purchases above ₹10 lakh. Cross-check each entry against your Form 26AS — Form 26AS is authoritative for the TDS credit you claim in your ITR.

2. SFT (Statement of Financial Transactions) Information — Transactions reported by banks, brokers, mutual fund registrars, and property registrars. Common categories:

• SFT-001: Cash deposits in savings accounts above ₹10 lakh
• SFT-005: Time deposit (FD) interest — cumulative above certain thresholds
• SFT-011: Purchase or sale of mutual fund units above ₹10 lakh in a year
• SFT-012: Purchase or sale of immovable property above ₹30 lakh
• SFT-013: Foreign currency or outward remittance above ₹10 lakh
• SFT-016: Interest earned on savings bank accounts
• SFT-017: Credit card payments above ₹10 lakh

SFT data is where most AIS errors originate — because it’s filed by third parties who sometimes get amounts, PANs, or transaction types wrong.

3. Payment of Taxes — Advance tax paid and self-assessment tax deposited during FY 2025-26, along with the Challan Identification Number (CIN). Cross-check that every advance tax challan you paid appears here with the correct CIN and amount.

4. Demand and Refund — Outstanding tax demands from previous assessment years and refunds initiated. If there’s an unresolved demand from AY 2022-23 or AY 2023-24 visible here, it can hold up your current year’s refund. Resolve such demands via the e-Proceedings tab on the portal before expecting a refund to process.

5. Other Information — Salary data from Annexure II employer filings (sometimes shown separately from TDS), interest on income tax refunds credited by the department, outward foreign remittances, foreign currency purchases, and other miscellaneous items.

The 7 Most Common AIS Errors — and Why They Happen

The data in your AIS comes entirely from third parties. Banks make mistakes. Brokers file revised returns that don’t sync immediately. Registrars enter wrong PAN numbers. Here’s what to look for:

Error 1: Duplicate interest entries. Your bank reports FD interest under TDS filings, and separately reports the same interest under SFT-005. The same ₹42,000 appears twice in AIS. This is the most common AIS error — especially with nationalised banks that file multiple returns for different branches. When you see the same amount from the same source appearing in both TDS/TCS and SFT sections, mark one as “Duplicate information” in feedback. After submitting, both the reported value and modified value (₹0 for the duplicate) will be visible in AIS.

Error 2: Income mapped to the wrong PAN. Another person’s transaction shows in your AIS because a bank or registrar entered a wrong PAN. You’ll see a property sale you never made, or a cash deposit in an account you don’t own. Submit “Information belongs to other person/year” immediately. Keep a screenshot of your feedback confirmation.

Error 3: Mutual fund redemptions shown as gross proceeds, not taxable gains. When you redeem mutual fund units, AIS may show the full redemption value — say ₹9.5 lakh — under SFT-011. That ₹9.5 lakh is not your income. Your income is only the gain over your cost basis (which might be ₹7 lakh bought over years of SIPs, making the actual taxable gain ₹2.5 lakh). AIS reflects the transaction value, not the taxable gain. Your capital gains schedule in ITR uses the net gain — not the gross proceeds from AIS.

Error 4: Credit card spends flagged under SFT-017. If you spent more than ₹10 lakh on credit cards in FY 2025-26, it appears in AIS under SFT-017. This is a reporting threshold — not an income trigger. The ₹10 lakh represents spending, not income. The department uses this to check that your lifestyle is proportionate to declared income. Verify the amount matches your actual card statements — a wrong PAN by your card issuer could show someone else’s spends under your profile.

Error 5: TDS mismatch due to revised employer returns. If your employer filed a revised TDS return (Form 24Q) after your AIS was first populated, AIS may show a different figure from what your Form 16 shows. This is common in mid-year job changes or when employers discover errors in quarterly filings. Always check AIS close to your filing date, not in April — and re-check once more just before you submit.

Error 6: Inflated savings interest under SFT-016. Banks sometimes report aggregate savings interest that spans two financial years. Interest credited in April 2025 (FY 2025-26) may be bundled with interest from March 2025 (FY 2024-25) in a bank’s SFT annual filing. Cross-check AIS savings interest against your passbook or bank statement for the exact date range: April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026.

Error 7: Old demand showing in AIS as unresolved. A resolved demand from a prior assessment year may still appear in the Demand and Refund section of AIS with no “resolved” status tag. This is a display lag. Check the actual outstanding demand status separately under “Pending Actions” on the portal. If it is genuinely outstanding, resolve it before expecting your current year’s refund to be processed.

The AIS Feedback Mechanism — How to Actually Fix It

Step 1: Go to the AIS Compliance Portal. Click the AIS tile.

Step 2: Navigate to the relevant sub-section (e.g., SFT Information for a duplicate FD interest entry).

Step 3: Expand the specific transaction that has an error.

Step 4: Click the Optional/Feedback button next to that entry.

Step 5: A dropdown appears. Choose from the 7 feedback options:

Three critical things to understand about AIS feedback

First — feedback does not auto-fix the source. The department shares your feedback with the reporting entity (bank, broker, registrar), who gets 30 days to respond. If they accept the correction, the AIS data gets permanently fixed. Check the feedback confirmation status on the AIS portal — it shows whether the source has accepted, partially accepted, or rejected your correction. If no response after 30 days, contact the source entity directly and ask them to file a corrected SFT or TDS return.

Second — source response takes time. Some corrections can take 60–90 days if the source needs to file a revised SFT return with the department. Start this process early — well before the revised return deadline of March 31, 2027.

Third — feedback is not a substitute for filing correctly. You must file your ITR with your actual correct income, regardless of what AIS shows. Submitting feedback without correcting your ITR does not protect you from a mismatch notice. Both steps are independently required.

What Happens If You File Despite AIS Errors — The Real Cost

You can file with correct figures even when AIS is wrong. The law requires accurate income declaration, not AIS-matching. But here’s what you need to be prepared for:

The CPC processes your return under Section 143(1). It compares ITR figures against AIS/TIS. If your ITR shows ₹3.2 lakh in total interest income but AIS shows ₹3.8 lakh (because of a duplicate FD entry), the system auto-generates an intimation showing a demand for tax on the ₹60,000 difference — plus interest under Section 234B at 1% per month on any unpaid tax.

The penalty escalates sharply if the mismatch signals under-reported income:

A concrete example: Say AIS shows an STCG of ₹2 lakh from equity shares that you forgot to declare. Short-term capital gains (STCG) on listed equity is taxed at 20% (from July 23, 2024). Tax on ₹2 lakh = ₹40,000. Under Section 270A (under-reporting), penalty = 50% of ₹40,000 = ₹20,000. Total additional liability: ₹60,000 — before interest under Section 234B. For a ₹2 lakh gain, that’s a ₹60,000 problem that a single AIS check would have avoided.

The Nudge Campaign: Before issuing formal notices, the Income Tax Department’s data analytics team sends email alerts and portal notifications to taxpayers whose AIS significantly diverges from their filed ITR. If you receive such a notification, act on it. File a revised ITR with the correct income. The revised return window for AY 2026-27 is open until March 31, 2027.

Before-Filing AIS Reconciliation Checklist

Before you file (or revise), run through each of these:

• Salary: AIS salary figure should match your total gross salary per Form 16. If you changed jobs in FY 2025-26, both employers’ salary figures should add up to the AIS total. Mismatch? Check which employer filed the revised TDS return and flag in AIS feedback.
• Savings interest: Compare AIS SFT-016 against your bank statements (April 2025–March 2026). Savings bank interest up to ₹10,000 qualifies for the Section 80TTA deduction in the old tax regime — but you must declare the full amount as income first, then claim the deduction.
• FD interest: Every fixed deposit that earned interest in FY 2025-26 should appear in AIS. Cross-check against your bank’s FD interest certificate. The gross interest — not just the amount after TDS — is taxable and must be declared.
• Dividend income: Compare AIS dividend figures against your demat account statement or fund house annual account statement (CAMS/KFintech). Larger divergences — e.g., two different AMCs reporting the same dividend — indicate a duplicate entry.
• Capital gains: AIS shows gross redemption or sale proceeds, not just the taxable gain. The taxable gain is sale price minus cost of acquisition — which your broker’s capital gains statement or AMC account statement provides. Use those documents, not AIS gross figures, to fill Schedule CG in your ITR.
• SFT entries: Credit card spends above ₹10 lakh, property purchases, cash deposits — check each against your records. If a transaction doesn’t belong to you, submit “Information belongs to other person/year” immediately.
• Outstanding demands: Check the Demand and Refund section. Any open demand from prior years may delay your current refund. Resolve via the e-Proceedings tab before filing.

What to Do Right Now

The original ITR filing deadline for most salaried individuals (ITR-1 and ITR-2) was July 31, 2026 — which has passed as of August 8, 2026. The deadline for ITR-3 and ITR-4 (non-audit) is August 31, 2026. Here’s what applies to you now:

If you haven’t filed yet: File a belated return under Section 139(4). You can file until December 31, 2026. Late fee under Section 234F: ₹5,000 if your income exceeds ₹5 lakh, ₹1,000 if income is ₹5 lakh or below. You’ll also owe interest at 1% per month under Section 234A on any unpaid tax.

If you already filed but missed checking AIS: File a revised return under Section 139(5). You have until March 31, 2027 for AY 2026-27. A revised return replaces the original — no penalty for the revision itself.

Step-by-step — what to do today:

1. Log in to incometax.gov.in. Go to Services → Annual Information Statement (AIS) → Proceed.

2. Download the PDF. Password: PAN (lowercase) + DOB (DDMMYYYY). Alternatively, use the AIS for Taxpayer mobile app for a quick on-the-go review.

3. Go through Part B section by section. Use bank statements, Form 16, FD certificates, broker/AMC statements as your reference. Note every discrepancy.

4. Submit AIS feedback on every error. Don’t skip small amounts — each piece of feedback creates a paper trail that protects you if a Section 143(1) intimation arrives.

5. Give TIS a few days to update. After submitting feedback, the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) reflects the modified values. Check TIS again before you file.

6. File with your correct figures. If AIS still shows wrong data even after feedback, file what your documents actually support. Keep AIS feedback screenshots, bank statements, and any other proof for at least 6 years.

7. If you already filed and now see a mismatch: File a revised ITR by March 31, 2027 with corrected income. You can also respond to any Section 143(1) intimation through the e-Proceedings tab — upload documents showing the AIS entry was wrong.

8. If you received a Section 143(1) notice: Respond within 30 days through the portal’s e-Proceedings section. Upload the document proving the AIS was in error — bank statement, FD certificate, broker’s capital gains statement, whatever is relevant.

If your AIS shows a large transaction you don’t recognise at all — a property sale, a large cash deposit — don’t ignore it. Submit “Information belongs to other person/year” in AIS feedback immediately, and verify your PAN-linked records via the NSDL portal.

Related reading on The Salary Investor:

• How to File Your ITR Yourself in 2026 — A Step-by-Step Guide for Salaried Indians
• What Is Form 16 and How Do You Use It to File Your ITR?
• Capital Gains Tax in India: The Complete Guide to STCG and LTCG
• Section 80TTA vs 80TTB: The Interest Deduction Salaried Indians Get and Often Don’t Claim
• Old Tax Regime vs New Tax Regime: Which One Should You Pick in FY 2025-26?

Disclaimer: Information in this article is based on Income Tax Department guidance, ClearTax, Patron Accounting, and related sources as of August 2026. The Annual Information Statement (AIS) is governed by Section 285BB of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for AY 2026-27 (FY 2025-26). The Income Tax Act, 2025 replaces AIS with Form 168 (Section 510) from Tax Year 2026-27 onwards — this has no impact on the current AY 2026-27 filing. Tax laws are subject to amendment by CBDT. Belated and revised return deadlines are as per currently notified rules (December 31, 2026 and March 31, 2027 respectively). All illustrative examples are fictional. This article is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute tax or legal advice. Consult a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA) or SEBI-registered financial advisor for guidance specific to your situation.

Sources: Annual Information Statement — features, download and feedback guide (ClearTax, July 2026) · AIS for AY 2026-27 — how to check, fix discrepancies, file ITR (Tax Garden, June 2026) · AIS mismatch — how to fix errors before filing ITR 2026 (Patron Accounting, April 2026) · Form 26AS, AIS and TIS mismatch — fix before ITR AY 2026-27 (MyFinancial, June 2026) · How to fix errors in AIS to file ITR (Business Standard, July 2024) · ITR filing deadlines AY 2026-27 (Income Tax Department, July 2026) · ITR filing last date FY 2025-26 (ClearTax, July 2026) · Over 5 crore taxpayers accessed AIS — ITR filing 2026 (OfficeNewz/Income Tax Department, July 2026)

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Kunal Kundu

Kunal Kundu is a salaried professional from Pune, Maharashtra, with over 16 years of work experience. He has been investing since 2012 — starting with stocks and later expanding into mutual funds, options trading, and systematic tax planning.
He figured out most of what he knows about personal finance not from courses or advisors, but from years of reading, making mistakes, and fixing them. The Salary Investor is his attempt to save other salaried Indians the same time and money.
He is not a CA or a SEBI-registered advisor. He writes as a fellow salaried person who has been in the trenches — navigating EPF, ITR, 80C, salary slips, and market volatility.

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