Annual Information Statement — Detailed
The Annual Information Statement (AIS) is a comprehensive statement available on the income tax e-Filing portal that consolidates financial information reported by third parties about a taxpayer — including SFT filers, banks, employers, and registrars — and allows taxpayers to confirm, deny, or modify reported information.
The Annual Information Statement was launched in November 2021 as a more expansive successor to Form 26AS. While Form 26AS primarily reflected TDS and TCS data, the AIS encompasses a far broader range of financial information sourced from multiple reporting entities, making it one of the most comprehensive tax-related documents available to an individual taxpayer in India.
AIS draws data from several channels. The Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) is a primary source — reporting entities such as banks, mutual funds, stock exchanges, registrars of property, and NBFCs are required to file SFTs under Section 285BA disclosing high-value transactions. These include savings account cash deposits above Rs. 10 lakh, FD openings above Rs. 10 lakh, credit card payments above Rs. 1 lakh (cash) or Rs. 10 lakh (other modes), purchase or sale of immovable property above Rs. 30 lakh, and mutual fund subscriptions above Rs. 10 lakh per year.
AIS also captures TDS and TCS data (as Form 26AS did), interest income from banks, dividends, sale of securities and mutual funds (with cost of acquisition where available), GST turnover reported by businesses, and foreign remittance information under Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). This breadth allows the tax department to cross-check taxpayer declarations in their ITR against third-party reported data at scale.
A critical distinguishing feature of AIS is the taxpayer feedback mechanism. Unlike Form 26AS, which was a read-only document, AIS allows taxpayers to submit feedback against each entry — confirming it as correct, denying it as relating to another person, or modifying the amount if the reported value is incorrect. Feedback does not alter the AIS itself but is visible to the Assessing Officer and factors into the department's risk assessment process.
The Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) is a derived summary generated from AIS that aggregates information category-wise (e.g., total interest income, total dividend income) for easier ITR pre-filling. Taxpayers should reconcile AIS data with their own records before filing to avoid mismatches, which can trigger automated notices from the CPC or the compliance portal.