Explained: All about the new annual information statement of the income tax department

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The income-tax department has rolled out the new Annual Information Statement (AIS) in the Compliance section of the Income tax portal, with the aim of bringing transparency and offering detailed information to the taxpayer. This statement is an extensive view of information for a taxpayer, even broader than Form 26AS.

Typically, AIS is a financial summary of the taxpayer that is available with the income tax department and shall facilitate ease in filing tax returns. Information about various financial transactions executed by the taxpayer is obtained by the department from various financial entities (e.g., banks, stock broking firms) that are delegated with the task of furnishing such information.

AIS shows both reported value (value reported by the reporting entities) and modified value (i.e. the value after considering taxpayer’s feedback) for each type of information, i.e. TDS, SFT, other information, etc.

Under the AIS option on the Income tax portal, there are two tabs – Annual Information statement (AIS) and Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS).

Broadly, the AIS is divided into two parts: Part A and Part B.

PART A- General Information

It displays general information such as PAN, masked Aadhaar number, name, date of birth/incorporation/formation, contact details of the taxpayer (mobile number, address).

PART B: The following information is provided in Part B

Salient Features of AIS and TIS:

Additional information available: AIS and TIS provide additional information, which was not available in Form 26AS, including saving bank interest income, dividend income, details of purchase and sale of mutual funds, shares, securities, foreign remittance etc.

Ease in filing tax return: A simplified TIS which shows aggregated value of various transaction will help the taxpayer in filing returns. Also, pre-filling option will be available later.

Feedback: Taxpayers will be able to submit online feedback on AIS’s information and download AIS in PDF, JSON, and CSV file formats.

In case there is variation between the TDS/TCS information relating to tax payment as shown in the AIS on Compliance Portal and Form 26AS on TRACES, then the taxpayer can rely on the information present on the TRACES portal for filing of ITR and other tax compliance purposes.

While certain features of AIS are still under progress and will be available in due course, we will have to wait and watch the functionality of the same.

For individual non audit assessees, December 31, 2021 is the due date to file tax returns. Now that all the above information is available on the income tax portal, one should cross verify this information to ensure nothing is missed before filing returns. Also, for individuals who have already filed the tax return, they may re-look at AIS to check if any revision is required in the tax returns already submitted.

(With inputs from Niji Arora, Senior Manager, Tarika Agarwal, Manager, Priya Sadriwala, Deputy Manager)