Last-minute income-tax filing: Review your Annual Information Statement (AIS) first

TDS

Time to file income tax returns for the financial year 2023-24 (assessment year 2024-25) is fast running out. July 31 is now just three days away.

However, even before you start selecting the right ITR form and enter the details, you need to first access Form 26AS (tax credit statement) as well as your Annual Information Statement (AIS), which provides comprehensive details about taxes deducted and paid as well as other financial transactions.

You can access your AIS through the income tax (I-T) department’s official return-filing website.

- Visit www.incometax.gov.in

-   Click on the ‘AIS’ tab on the homepage and proceed.

-   You will see two tabs: Instructions and AIS. Go through the list of instructions and then select ‘AIS’.

-   You can then proceed to download the statement - the password will be your PAN and birthdate.

Also read: Your one-stop guide to filing income tax returns

It is critical to go through the records of financial transactions and TDS to ensure that you do not miss out on declaring any income. Since the AIS and Form 26AS contain the complete history of a taxpayer’s transactions, no income will go unnoticed.

If you fail to report, say, the sale of shares or mutual fund units, you will get a notice for non-disclosure when the I-T department processes your returns. For example, it will display details of tax refunds, savings account interest or dividend earned, rent received, purchase and sale transactions of securities, immovable properties, foreign remittances and so on. So, ensure that your ITR reflects all these details.

Also read: ITR filing 2024: Filing returns at the last minute? Know the list of crucial documents you would need

If you notice any erroneous data in your Form 16 as your employer has made mistake, you can share your feedback on the portal.

AIS comes with a built-in grievance redressal mechanism. To avail of this facility online, you need to first log in to the income tax e-filing portal and access the statement. Once you open it, you can verify the information and provide your feedback, should you find errors.

To raise a dispute on any figures mentioned in Part B [which contains income, tax deducted at source (TDS), specified financial transactions (SFT) details, etc] of the AIS, you need to:

- Click ‘Bulk feedback’, select the specific transaction where you have spotted the error, and then click on ‘Continue’.

- Under the ‘Feedback type’ dropdown menu, select the appropriate grounds of complaints and hit ‘Submit’.

- If your contention is accepted, the AIS will reflect the value reported by the deductors as well as data modified after your feedback.