Income Tax Department Unveils New Annual Information Statement: Details Inside

The Income Tax Department yesterday on 1st November 2021 has rolled out the new Annual Information Statement (AIS) on the Compliance Portal which provides a comprehensive view of information to a taxpayer with a facility to capture online feedback. The new AIS can be accessed by clicking on the link “Annual Information Statement (AIS)” under the “Services” tab on the new Income tax e-filing portal (https://www.incometax.gov.in) The display of Form 26AS on the TRACES portal will also continue in parallel till the new AIS is validated and completely operational, claimed Central Board of Direct Taxes in a statement yesterday under the Ministry of Finance and Department of Revenue.

The new AIS includes additional information relating to interest, dividend, securities transactions, mutual fund transactions, foreign remittance information, etc. The reported information has been processed to remove duplicate information. A taxpayer will be able to download AIS information in PDF, JSON, CSV formats, according to the department.

A facility has been established for the taxpayer to submit online feedback if they consider the information is erroneous, refers to another person/year, or is duplicate. Feedback can also be provided in bulk by submitting multiple pieces of information. Taxpayers can also use an AIS Utility to monitor AIS and input feedback in an offline mode. In the AIS, the reported value and the value following feedback will be displayed individually. If the information is changed or rejected, the source of the information may be addressed for clarification and confirmation.

A simplified Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) has also been generated for each taxpayer which shows the 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-filing of Returns (pre-filling will be enabled in a phased manner).

Taxpayers should remember that the Annual Information Statement (AIS) includes information presently available with the Income Tax Department. There may be other transactions relating to the taxpayer which are not presently displayed in the Annual Information Statement (AIS). Taxpayers should check all related information and report complete and accurate information in the Income Tax Return, said Income Tax Department.

Taxpayers are asked to review the information in the Annual Information Statement (AIS) and provide feedback if any of it needs to be changed. When submitting the ITR, the value stated in the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) may be taken into account. If the ITR has already been submitted and some information has been left out, the return may be updated to add the missing information.

Income Tax Dept rolls out the new Annual Information Statement(AIS) on the Compliance Portal. It provides a comprehensive view of information to taxpayer, with facility to capture online feedback. Click on link ‘AIS’ under the ‘Services’ tab on https://t.co/GYvO3n9wMf to access. pic.twitter.com/Ub4EAgmkLq

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) November 1, 2021

In case there is a variation between the TDS/TCS information or the details of tax paid as displayed in Form 26AS on the 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. Taxpayers may refer to the AIS documents (AIS Handbook, Presentation, User Guide, and FAQs) provided in the “Resources” section or connect with the helpdesk for any queries through the “Help” section on the AIS Homepage. the department further clarified.