What is AIS (Annual Information Statement) and how to reconcile it before filing your ITR
AIS shows every rupee of income reported in your name by banks, employers, and brokers. An ITR that doesn't match AIS triggers an automated notice. This guide explains each AIS category, the FD interest accrual trap most salaried employees miss, and how to reconcile step by step.
All figures and facts in this article are sourced directly from primary government and regulatory publications — including the Reserve Bank of India, SEBI, EPFO, the Income Tax Department, PFRDA, and IRDAI — and verified before publication. No claim is published from a single source without corroboration.
For informational purposes only. Ek Crore does not recommend specific tax strategies or financial decisions. Tax rules change frequently — verify current rules at incometax.gov.in before acting. Consult a practising CA for advice tailored to your situation.
The Annual Information Statement (AIS) is the income tax department's comprehensive record of everything reported about you by third parties: your employer, your bank, your broker, and every fund house where you hold units. Before you file your ITR for FY 2025-26, checking AIS is not optional — it tells you exactly what the government expects to see in your return.
An ITR that does not match the AIS data can trigger an automated mismatch notice under Section 143(1)(a), even if you owe no additional tax.
What AIS is, and how it differs from Form 26AS
Two documents on the income tax portal are commonly confused. They serve different purposes.
Form 26AS shows tax credits: TDS deducted from your income, TCS collected, advance tax and self-assessment tax you paid, and refunds received. It is the authoritative source for claiming TDS in your ITR. If TDS is in Form 26AS, you get credit. If it is not there, you do not — even if AIS shows it.
AIS shows income completeness: every rupee of income that any entity reported to the tax department in your name. Salary from your employer, FD interest from your bank, dividends from companies and fund houses, proceeds from selling mutual funds or shares, rent received, property purchases. AIS is wider in scope than Form 26AS and is the primary tool for checking whether all your income sources are declared.
The practical rule: Use Form 26AS for TDS credits (anything in Schedule TDS of your ITR). Use AIS to verify that you have declared all income. Both must be reviewed before you file.
There is also a third document called TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary). TIS is a condensed view of AIS — it shows one summarised number per income category after processing any feedback you have submitted. The pre-filled ITR on the portal draws from TIS.
Source: FAQs on AIS, Income Tax Department
How to download your AIS
Step 1: Log in to incometax.gov.in and go to Services → Annual Information Statement (AIS).
Step 2: Select FY 2025-26 from the dropdown.
Step 3: Click the AIS tile to view your statement online, or download it. Available formats:
- PDF (full statement, password protected)
- JSON (for technical use)
- Excel (per category, downloaded separately)
PDF password: Your PAN in lowercase + date of birth in DDMMYYYY format, with no spaces. Example: for PAN ABCDE1234F and DOB 15 March 1995, the password is abcde1234f15031995.
◇ Quick check: Download the PDF version for a complete picture. Then cross-reference each category below against what you have declared.
The 10 AIS categories most relevant to salaried employees
AIS captures over 15 transaction types. For a salaried employee in FY 2025-26, these are the ones that matter most and most often cause mismatches.
| AIS category | What it shows | Common mismatch |
| Salary | Gross salary reported by your employer | Usually matches Form 16. Gap occurs if employer filed late TDS return. |
| Interest (savings) | Savings account interest reported by your bank | Bank reports it; many employees forget to include it in ITR. |
| Interest (FD/RD) | FD/RD interest on accrual basis | Most common gap: banks report accrued interest even if FD has not matured. |
| Dividend | Dividend from shares and mutual funds | Taxable since 2020; often not included by employees who think it is tax-free. |
| Mutual fund (purchase) | SIP and lump sum investments | Not taxable; appears for information. |
| Mutual fund (sale/redemption) | Total redemption proceeds | AIS shows gross proceeds, not the gain. The taxable amount is proceeds minus cost. |
| Shares purchased/sold | Equity buy and sell transactions | Proceeds appear; your cost (purchase price) is what reduces the taxable amount. |
| Rent received | Rental income reported by tenants (companies must deduct TDS on rent above ₹50,000/month) | May appear if your tenant is a company that deducted TDS. |
| SFT (high-value transactions) | Cash deposits, credit card payments above threshold | Generally informational; large credit card payments above ₹10L/year appear here. |
| TDS/TCS | All TDS deducted at source | Cross-check this against Form 26AS — discrepancies need to be resolved before filing. |
The FD interest accrual issue: the most common AIS mismatch for salaried employees
This trips up more salaried employees than any other AIS category.
Banks report FD interest on an accrual basis, meaning they report the interest that accrued (was earned) in the financial year, even if the FD has not matured and you have not received any cash.
Example: You opened a 3-year FD of ₹5 lakh in July 2023 at 7% per annum. By March 2026, the FD has not matured. But your AIS shows FD interest income for FY 2025-26 because the bank reported the interest accrued between April 2025 and March 2026.
Many employees notice this in AIS, do not understand where it came from, and either:
- Ignore it (and get a mismatch notice), or
- Include it once at maturity and not in each intervening year (and then include it twice)
The correct approach: Declare FD interest in your ITR for each FY it accrues, not only when you receive cash at maturity. Your ITR interest income for FY 2025-26 should include interest accrued on all outstanding FDs for this year. The bank's AIS entry is the signal that this needs to be declared.
⚠ Common mistake: Filing ITR with only the FD interest for which TDS was deducted (the portion above ₹40,000 in a year). AIS shows the full accrued interest including the portion below the TDS threshold. If you earned ₹35,000 in FD interest and no TDS was deducted, that ₹35,000 still appears in AIS and must be declared as income from other sources.
How to reconcile AIS before filing: a step-by-step process
Step 1: Download AIS and your Form 16. Have both open at the same time.
Step 2: Check salary. AIS salary figure should match Form 16 Part A. If it differs, note the difference. A small gap (below ₹1,000) can occur due to timing of TDS return filing. A large gap needs investigation.
Step 3: Add up all interest income. Collect the AIS interest figures for savings accounts and FDs. Add them together. This is the minimum interest income you must declare in your ITR under "Income from Other Sources." If your bank statements show more interest than AIS (unlikely but possible for new accounts not yet reporting), include the higher amount.
Step 4: Check dividends. Any dividend from shares or mutual funds in FY 2025-26 appears in AIS. If you received any, declare it under "Other Sources" in your ITR.
Step 5: Check mutual fund redemptions. AIS shows gross redemption proceeds. This is not your taxable gain. Taxable gain = proceeds minus your purchase cost. If AIS shows ₹2,00,000 in MF redemptions and you invested ₹1,50,000 (your cost), your capital gain is ₹50,000 — and that is what goes in your ITR, not ₹2,00,000. Fetch your detailed transaction history from your broker or AMC statement to compute the correct gain.
Step 6: For any wrong entry, submit AIS feedback. If an entry is clearly incorrect (belongs to someone else, already declared in a prior year, genuinely wrong), click "Feedback" next to that entry in the AIS portal. Options include: "Information is correct," "Information is not fully correct," "Information relates to other PAN/year," or "Information is duplicate." The TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary) will update to reflect your feedback. This does not require you to wait — file your ITR with the correct figures, and the feedback explains the discrepancy.
Worked example: Neha's AIS reconciliation
Neha is a salaried software manager. Her AIS for FY 2025-26 shows:
| AIS entry | Amount |
| Salary (employer) | ₹18,50,000 |
| Interest (savings account) | ₹12,000 |
| Interest (FD, accrued) | ₹42,000 |
| Dividend (mutual funds) | ₹8,500 |
| MF redemption proceeds | ₹3,20,000 |
| MF purchase | ₹2,80,000 |
Her ITR must include at minimum:
- Salary: ₹18,50,000 (verified against Form 16)
- Interest income: ₹12,000 + ₹42,000 = ₹54,000 (under "Other Sources")
- Dividend: ₹8,500 (under "Other Sources")
- Capital gains from MF redemption: ₹3,20,000 minus her purchase cost (she checks her CAMS/Kfintech statement and finds her cost for the redeemed units was ₹2,65,000, so gain = ₹55,000)
If Neha only declares her salary and ignores the interest, dividend, and capital gain, her ITR will not match AIS. She will receive an automated notice asking her to explain the difference. The notice is not a crisis — but it delays her refund and requires a response. Reconciling before filing avoids all of this.
Bottom line
- AIS is the government's record of all income reported in your name; it is wider than Form 26AS
- Use Form 26AS for TDS credits; use AIS to verify all income is declared
- FD interest appears on accrual basis in AIS even if your FD has not matured — you must declare it each year
- MF redemption in AIS shows gross proceeds; your taxable gain is proceeds minus cost
- If any AIS entry is wrong, use the feedback tool — then file your return with the correct figures
- A mismatch between your ITR and AIS triggers an automated notice; reconciling before filing avoids it
Frequently asked questions
Q: AIS shows a transaction I don't recognise. What should I do?
A: First, check if the PAN is correct on your accounts. Unknown entries sometimes occur when a bank or broker has linked a transaction to the wrong PAN. Use the AIS feedback option to mark the entry as "Information relates to other PAN/year" and file your return without including that income. If the entry turns out to be yours (misremembered transaction), include it in your ITR.
Q: My AIS FD interest figure is different from what I calculated from my FD passbook. Which is right?
A: AIS may reflect interest that was accrued in the April 2025 to March 2026 period on a daily compounding basis, while your passbook might show interest credited quarterly or at maturity. The accrual amount is the correct figure to declare for income tax. If the difference is large, contact your bank to reconcile — but declare the AIS figure as the minimum, and err on the higher side if your own calculation is higher.
Q: I submitted AIS feedback saying a dividend entry was wrong. The portal still shows it. Should I still declare it in my ITR?
A: Check the TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary) — it shows the "processed value" after feedback. If TIS has been updated to zero out that entry, your pre-filled ITR will exclude it. If TIS still shows the value, declare it in your ITR to avoid a mismatch notice, and add a note that you have submitted feedback. You can always file a revised return later if the feedback is accepted and the entry is removed.
Q: How far back can I check AIS?
A: AIS on the current income tax portal covers FY 2020-21 onwards. For older records, you would need to rely on Form 26AS.
Q: Is TIS the same as AIS?
A: No. AIS shows the raw data reported by third parties. TIS is a summary layer on top of AIS that consolidates multiple entries per category into one figure and reflects any feedback you have submitted. The ITR pre-fill draws from TIS. Think of AIS as the detailed ledger and TIS as the closing balance.
Sources: FAQs on AIS, Income Tax Department · AIS Annual Information Statement, Income Tax Department · Salaried Individuals for AY 2026-27, Income Tax Department
Last verified: May 2026, FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27). Tax rules change — confirm current rules at incometax.gov.in before acting.
Content on Ek Crore is for educational purposes only. Nothing here is financial advice. Always consult a SEBI-registered advisor, CA, or qualified professional before making investment or tax decisions.