Diwali symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. This is a festival of lights, gifts, feasts and sweets. There is the custom of exchanging gifts on Diwali to show up the feeling of togetherness, love and affection. Likewise this year the Income-tax department has gifted ‘Annual Information Statement (AIS)’ and ‘Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS)’ to the taxpayers. Seemingly AIS and TIS will bring sweetness and brightness to the life of taxpayers and also symbolize knowledge over ignorance while submitting the return of income.
Annual Information Statement (AIS) is a comprehensive view of information for a taxpayer displayed in Form 26AS. Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) is an information category wise information summary for a taxpayer. The taxpayers can access the “Annual Information Statement (AIS)” under the “Services” tab from the e-filing portal after successful login on the e-filing portal.
These are very useful gifts from the tax department as they are going to immensely benefit the taxpayers as we have seen people generally miss reporting certain transactions intentionally or unintentionally while filing their Income Tax Returns (ITR). This results in re-assessment notices and litigation since if the Assessing Officer comes across any information suggesting that any income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for any assessment year, he may reopen the case for that particular year within the time limit of 3 years/10 years depending upon the quantum of income escaped. Since the AIS & TIS will give a glimpse of transactions beforehand, it shall reduce the chances of enquiries and notices from the department even for small omissions or mistakes.
The kind of information that is made available in AIS and TIS shows that how the department is maintaining 360-degree data profiling of taxpayers. This information is not less than a birth chart mapping all your financial transactions are done last year ranging from interest on deposits, dividend, securities transactions, mutual fund transactions, foreign remittance, interest on saving accounts, etc. Seeing such a vast information it seems that the days are not so far when apart from matching horoscopes from astrologers, the people will come to tax professionals to match AIS & TIS of bride and groom to ascertain whether their married life will be happy and successful. This might become a deciding factor for making a match between two individuals.
You should cross-check this information before filing the Income-tax return (ITR). In case, you have already filed an ITR for the financial year 2020-2021 then you should ascertain that there is no mismatch of income. If you notice any error or omission in your return of income based on the details in AIS or TIS, you can file a revised ITR to correct such error or omission in the originally filed return. If a revised return is filed, the original return is deemed to have been withdrawn and substituted by the revised return.
Key things taxpayers must know
- If they (taxpayers) feel that the information is incorrect, related to other person/year, duplicate etc., a facility has been provided to submit online feedback.
- Feedback can also be furnished by submitting multiple information in bulk.
- An AIS Utility has also been provided for taxpayers to view AIS and upload feedback in offline manner.
- The reported value and value after feedback will be shown separately in the AIS.
- In case the information is modified/denied, the information source may be contacted for confirmation.
- A simplified Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) has also been generated for each taxpayer which shows aggregated value for the taxpayer for ease of filing return.
TIS shows the processed value (i.e. the value generated after deduplication of information based on pre-defined rules) and derived value (i.e. the value derived after considering the taxpayer feedback and processed value). - If the taxpayer submits feedback on AIS, the derived information in TIS will be automatically updated in real time.
- The derived information in TIS will be used for pre-filling of Return (pre-filling will be enabled in a phased manner).
- Taxpayers should check all related information and report complete and accurate information in the Income Tax Return.
AIS is a comprehensive view of information for a taxpayer displayed in Form 26AS. The new AIS includes additional information relating to interest, dividend, securities transactions, mutual fund transactions, foreign remittance information etc. The taxpayer will be able to download AIS information in PDF, JSON, CSV formats. A taxpayer can provide feedback on the information displayed in AIS. AIS shows both reported value and modified value (i.e. the value after considering taxpayer feedback) under each section (i.e. TDS, SFT, Other information).
TIS is an information category wise aggregated information summary for a taxpayer. TIS shows the processed value (i.e. The value generated after deduplication of information based on pre-defined rules) and derived value (i.e. the value derived after considering the taxpayer feedback and processed value) under each information category (e.g. Salary, Interest, Dividend etc.). The derived information in TIS will be used for prefilling of return, if applicable.
How to access AIS and TIS at the e-filing portal?
Step 1: Log in to URL https://www.incometax.gov.in/
Step 2: Click on “Annual Information Statement (AIS)” under the “Services” tab from the e-filing portal after successful login on the e-filing portal.
Step 3: Navigate to AIS Homepage. View Taxpayer Information summary (TIS) and Annual Information Statement (AIS)
The information shown on AIS is divided into two parts:
(a) PART A- General Information
Part-A displays general information about you including PAN, Masked Aadhar Number, Name of the Taxpayer, Date of Birth/Incorporation/Formation, mobile number, e-mail address and address of Taxpayer.
(b) PART- B
• TDS/TCS Information: – Information related to tax deducted/collected at source is displayed here. The Information code of the TDS/TCS, Information description and Information value is shown.
• SFT Information: – Under this head information received from reporting entities under Statement of Financial transaction (SFT) is displayed here. The SFT code, Information description and Information value is made available.
• Payment of Taxes: – Information relating to the payment of taxes under different heads, such as Advance Tax and Self-Assessment Tax, is shown.
• Demand and Refund: – You will be able to view the details of the demand raised and refund initiated (AY and amount) during a financial year. (Details related to Demand will be released soon)
• Other Information: – Details of the information received from the other sources, such as data about Annexure-II salary, Interest on refund, Outward Foreign Remittance/Purchase of Foreign Currency etc., is displayed here.
A taxpayer can provide feedback on the information displayed in AIS. The feedback options will be displayed on each Information detail. You will be able to select only one of the available options for submitting feedback. Feedback options are as follows:
Option A: Information is correct
If the information belongs to you and all the attributes of the Information are correct.
Option B: Information is not fully correct
If the information belongs to you, but all the attributes of the Information are not correct. Upon selecting this option, relevant information fields will be displayed, and you will be able to update correct information details. e.g.- Account number, Information value, etc.
Option C: The Information relates to other PAN/year
If you are aware of the Information, but it belongs to another person or another year e.g. joint ownership of property or receiving of the mentioned amount in another year.
Option D: Information is a duplicate/included in other information
If the information displayed is already included in another information or it is duplicate information.
Option E: Information is denied
If you are unaware of this information/transaction and want to deny that the said information pertains to you.
Option F: Customized feedback
The feedback option will be displayed based on the information category
What if Tax Returns Are Already Filed?
In case the ITR has already been filed and some information has not been included in it, the return may be revised to reflect the correct information. In case there is a variation between the TDS/TCS information or the details of tax paid as displayed in Form26AS on TRACES portal and the TDS/TCS information or the information relating to tax payment as displayed in AIS on Compliance Portal, the taxpayer may rely on the information displayed on TRACES portal for the purpose of filing of ITR and for other tax compliance purposes.