ANNUAL INFORMATION SYSTEM

Annual Information Statement (AIS): Complete Guide for FY 2026-27 and AY 2027-28

The Annual Information Statement (AIS) is the Income Tax Department's consolidated record of every significant financial transaction linked to your PAN — salary, interest, dividends, capital gains, property deals, foreign remittances and more. For AY 2027-28, it is the primary document used to pre-fill your ITR and to flag mismatches during processing. If your return contradicts the AIS without an explanation, expect a Section 143(1) intimation or a scrutiny notice. Review it, reconcile it and raise feedback before you file — every time.

What the Annual Information Statement Actually Contains

AIS was launched on the e-filing portal in November 2021 and has been progressively expanded since. It is governed by Section 285BB of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and draws on information filed by reporting entities under Section 285BA — banks, stock exchanges, depositories, mutual fund houses, registrars of immovable property, employers, insurance companies, GST Network and the Reserve Bank of India, among others.

The statement is divided into two parts:

• Part A — General information: name, PAN, Aadhaar (masked), date of birth, mobile number, email, addresses as available with the department.
• Part B — Financial transaction data, organised into 46 information categories as of AY 2027-28, covering virtually every major income or asset movement in a taxpayer's financial life.

A parallel document, the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS), aggregates all Part B entries category-wise into a single derived figure per category. It is the TIS number — not the raw AIS lines — that pre-fills your ITR. Understanding this distinction is critical: you can dispute individual AIS lines via feedback, and only after the TIS is updated does the pre-filled return change.

How AIS Differs from Form 26AS — and Why It Matters for AY 2027-28

Form 26AS was, for two decades, the taxpayer's main compliance mirror. It showed TDS deducted, TCS collected, advance tax paid, self-assessment tax paid and high-value transaction alerts from Annual Information Returns (AIR). It was essentially a tax credit statement.

AIS supersedes it in scope. Here is what each document covers:

From AY 2024-25 onwards, Form 26AS no longer shows detailed TDS entries on the portal — those have migrated to AIS. For AY 2027-28, treat Form 26AS as a tax payment summary and AIS as your full income and transaction ledger.

The 10 AIS Categories That Require Close Scrutiny

Not every one of the 46 categories will apply to you, but these ten account for the overwhelming majority of mismatches seen in practice:

1. Salary / Pension / Perquisites — Reported by your employer via Form 24Q. Check that the gross salary figure matches your Form 16 Part B to the rupee. Perquisites like ESOPs exercised in FY 2026-27 should appear separately.

1. Interest — Savings Account — Banks report interest credited, which often differs from interest accrued in your books. Use your passbook or Form 16A to cross-check.

1. Interest — Term Deposit / Recurring Deposit — Reported on a TDS deduction basis. If TDS was not deducted (income below threshold), the bank may still report the interest under SFT. Verify against Form 15G/H records if you submitted one.

1. Dividend — Reported gross by the paying company via Form 26Q. Your receipt is net of 10% TDS under Section 194. Confirm the gross figures match your broker's consolidated account statement (CAS) or dividend warrants.

1. Sale of Securities — Listed Equity — The exchange or depository reports the sale consideration, not the gain. The cost of acquisition is not reported. You must independently compute Short-Term Capital Gain (STCG) and Long-Term Capital Gain (LTCG) using your contract notes, and reconcile only the sale figure with AIS.

1. Mutual Fund Redemptions / Purchases — CAMS or KFintech reports transaction-level data. A switch between schemes within the same fund house is treated as a redemption followed by a fresh purchase, generating a capital gains event. This category inflates AIS notional figures significantly if you are an active switcher.

1. Sale / Purchase of Immovable Property — The registrar reports transactions above the threshold notified by the Board (currently properties with stamp duty value or consideration exceeding Rs. 30 lakh). Both buyer and seller PANs appear in each other's AIS entries, which routinely causes confusion.

1. Foreign Remittances Under LRS — Authorised dealers report outward remittances. Education payments, travel expenses, overseas investments and the new TCS-attracting credit card spends abroad (where applicable) all flow here. Confirm each line against your SWIFT/FEMA advice.

1. GST Turnover — GSTN reports aggregate annual turnover for each GSTIN linked to your PAN. If you are a sole proprietor or partner and your firm's turnover appears here, ensure it reconciles with your audited financial statements before it flows into the business receipts section of your ITR.

1. Cash Deposits / Withdrawals — Banking — Banks report aggregate cash deposits above Rs. 10 lakh in savings accounts and above Rs. 50 lakh in current accounts in a financial year. A single large deposit related to a property sale or business receipt, if unexplained, is a near-certain scrutiny trigger.

How to Access Your AIS: Step-by-Step

1. Log in to incometax.gov.in using your PAN and password.
2. Navigate to Services → Annual Information Statement (AIS).
3. The portal will open a new tab managed by the Compliance Portal. Select the relevant financial year — for AY 2027-28, choose FY 2026-27.
4. You will see two tiles: AIS (full transaction data) and TIS (aggregated summary). Open AIS first.
5. Download in your preferred format:
6. PDF — Human-readable; best for review alongside your records.
7. JSON — Machine-readable; useful if your CA or tax software can parse it.
8. CSV — Spreadsheet-friendly; best for large transaction volumes (useful for equity investors with hundreds of trades).
9. The PDF is password-protected. The password is your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format.
10. Open TIS separately, download it, and note the derived figure for each category — this is what the ITR pre-fill will use.

The Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS): How Feedback Flows Through

When AIS contains multiple entries for the same category from different reporting sources — for example, dividend from five companies — the TIS consolidates them into one line: "Dividend — Rs. X". This figure automatically populates the relevant schedule in your pre-filled ITR.

When you raise feedback on an AIS entry, the TIS is recalculated. Here is the flow:

`` AIS entry (raw) → Taxpayer raises feedback → Revised TIS → Pre-filled ITR updated ``

Important: The pre-filled ITR does not update instantly. After submitting feedback, allow 2–3 working days for TIS to refresh before downloading the pre-filled XML or opening your draft ITR on the portal. Filing before the TIS has updated defeats the purpose of raising feedback in the first place.

How to Raise AIS Feedback: Options and When to Use Each

Click on any AIS entry to open the feedback panel. You will see five options:

What feedback does NOT do: It does not automatically notify or bind the reporting entity. The entity's original filing remains on record. What feedback does is create a taxpayer response layer that the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) uses when processing your return. If you claim a figure is wrong, have documentary proof ready — the CPC may call for it.

Worked Example: Reconciling AIS for a Salaried Investor (FY 2026-27)

Profile: Ms. Priya Nair, salaried software architect in Pune. Her AIS for FY 2026-27 shows the following Part B entries when she downloads it in June 2027.

Net effect of reconciliation:

• TIS for Interest revises from Rs. 96,000 to Rs. 48,000 → saves Rs. 14,800 in tax (at 30.9% slab) and avoids a 143(1) mismatch
• Duplicate mutual fund entry is corrected → prevents phantom income addition of Rs. 2,20,000

Without this reconciliation, the pre-filled ITR would have overstated income by approximately Rs. 2,68,000, potentially triggering a demand notice and delaying any refund on her Rs. 1,12,000 of TDS already deducted.

Pitfalls to Avoid When Using AIS for Your AY 2027-28 ITR

Mistake 1: Filing directly from the pre-filled ITR without checking AIS

The pre-filled values derive from TIS, which may include errors from reporting entities. Filing unverified pre-filled data does not protect you from a notice — you are responsible for return accuracy, not the portal.

Mistake 2: Raising "Information is denied" as a shortcut

"Denied" is a strong claim. If the transaction did occur but the amount is wrong, use "not fully correct" instead. A "denied" feedback followed by a scrutiny notice that produces bank evidence of the transaction will aggravate the officer's assessment.

Mistake 3: Ignoring property transactions where you are the buyer

When you buy a property, the registrar reports the transaction against your PAN. The AIS will show a purchase under immovable property. This is not income — but it is a source-of-funds signal. Ensure the funds are traceable to your disclosed income, savings or a legitimate loan. Have your loan sanction letter and bank statements ready.

Mistake 4: Not reconciling mutual fund switches

A switch in a mutual fund is a redemption + purchase for tax purposes. If you switched Rs. 5 lakh from a debt fund to an equity fund in March 2027 and back in April 2027, AIS will show a Rs. 5 lakh redemption in FY 2026-27. The capital gain (or loss) is taxable in FY 2026-27 regardless of how soon you re-invested.

Mistake 5: Assuming AIS is final and complete

AIS is refreshed as reporting entities file or revise their SFT statements. A transaction that is not in your AIS today may appear after your filing date — and still trigger a notice. Your own records — Form 16, CAS, bank statements, audited books — remain the primary source. AIS is a cross-check, not a substitute.

Mistake 6: Missing the feedback window before filing

You can raise AIS feedback at any time, including after filing. However, post-filing feedback does not automatically revise your filed return. If a material mismatch surfaces after filing, you will need to file a revised return (permissible before December 31, 2027 for AY 2027-28, or before completion of assessment, whichever is earlier). Do the reconciliation before you file.

What Happens If You Ignore AIS Mismatches

The Centralised Processing Centre matches your ITR against TIS during the Section 143(1) processing cycle. Three outcomes are possible:

1. No mismatch — return processed, refund (if any) issued.
2. Mismatch within tolerance — a 143(1)(a) adjustment is proposed; you receive an intimation and have 30 days to agree or dispute.
3. Significant mismatch or unreported income — the case may be selected for scrutiny under Section 143(2) or a re-opening notice under Section 148A.

If unreported income is established, penalties apply under Section 270A:

• Underreporting: 50% of tax on underreported income
• Misreporting: 200% of tax on misreported income

On a Rs. 5 lakh underreported amount taxed at 30%, the underreporting penalty alone is Rs. 75,000 — before interest under Sections 234A, 234B and 234C. The cost of ignoring a reconcilable AIS entry is almost always higher than the effort of fixing it before filing.

Key Takeaways

• AIS is your income ledger, Form 26AS is your tax payment receipt. Use both for AY 2027-28, but AIS carries the income-side data.
• Always download AIS in CSV or PDF before starting your ITR. Compare every category against your Form 16, CAS, bank passbooks and broker reports.
• The TIS — not the raw AIS — pre-fills your ITR. Raise feedback on individual AIS entries to correct the TIS figure, then wait 2–3 days before filing.
• Joint account interest, property purchases, mutual fund switches and duplicate SFT entries are the four most common reconciliation headaches. Resolve them with the right feedback option and keep documentary proof.
• Filing an unverified pre-filled return shifts no responsibility away from you. The taxpayer signs the return and owns its accuracy.
• Revised return is a safety net, not a strategy. If you discover a significant AIS mismatch after filing, file a revised return promptly — do not wait for a notice.
• Section 270A penalties for misreporting (200% of tax) make AIS reconciliation a non-negotiable pre-filing task, not an optional housekeeping exercise.