Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about the AIS and how increasingly it is becoming an important document for filing returns. Why is that? Well, it’s because AIS plays a crucial role in increasing voluntary compliance. Before you file your return, you can refer to the AIS to double-check your income figures. It’s like having an extra resource at your disposal to ensure that you’re reporting everything correctly.
What is the AIS? It is a document that contains your financial information in various sections that contain details such as savings account interest, dividends, LTCG, STCG, rent received, purchase and sale transactions of securities/immovable properties, foreign remittances, GST turnover, etc.
You can also submit feedback on the e-compliance portal for the information displayed in your AIS under each section (i.e. TDS, SFT, etc.).
Read in-depth about what is AIS: Annual Information Statement.
The importance of the AIS has been on the rise. Why?
As technology advances and information sharing becomes more accessible, the ITD has access to a vast amount of data. They can effortlessly compare the income and various financial transactions you report in your ITR with the information in the AIS and ensure that you are being transparent with your tax declarations
Hence, we can say it is one of the ways for ITD to keep a check on underreporting or misreporting of income.
So how does the information in AIS get updated?
The AIS draws data from sources like Annual Information Returns filed by specified entities such as CDSL/ NSDL, RTA, Banks, SEBI, CBIC, MoMSME, CDAL, etc. through its data partnerships, and, making it a comprehensive and reliable document for the ITD to ensure tax compliance.
So, the objective of the AIS is:
- Display complete information with a facility to provide online feedback
- Promote voluntary compliance and enable seamless prefilling of return
- Deter non-compliance
Why is AIS required for filing?
The AIS in the recent past has made quite an impact as ITD has sent an email campaign to a whopping number of taxpayers who didn’t match their income with the AIS in FY 2022-23. In response to the email, the taxpayers were either required to provide feedback giving clarification on particular transactions or to file an updated return.
Let’s say you forgot to report your savings account interest while filing your ITR. Now, the ITD can easily spot this because of the AIS, which contains such information.
How to view the AIS from the e-Filing portal?
- Login to the e-filing portal using your PAN & password
- From the dashboard, navigate to AIS
- Click on Proceed
- Click on the AIS tab besides the Instructions tab
- Select the FY & PAN and click on Annual Information Statement (AIS)
- Click on Download
Read more about AIS (Annual Information Statement) - Learn by Quicko.