Don’t Miss This: Your AIS is Key to a Smooth ITR Filing 2025!
The deadline for filing your Income Tax Return (ITR) for Financial Year (FY) 2024-25 (Assessment Year (AY) 2025-26) is now September 15, 2025 – an extension from the usual July 31st. This gives you extra time to ensure your e-filing is accurate, and a crucial tool in this process is your Annual Information Statement (AIS).
What is AIS and Why Does It Matter for AY 2025-26?
The Income Tax Department of India introduced the AIS to boost transparency and simplify tax compliance. Think of it as a comprehensive snapshot of your financial year. Unlike Form 26AS, which mainly covers Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax Collected at Source (TCS), your AIS offers a much broader view.
It includes a wide range of your financial transactions, such as:
- Income from various sources: Salaries, interest earned (from savings accounts, fixed deposits), and dividends.
- Investment transactions: Details of your stock market trades and mutual fund transactions.
- Foreign remittances.
- High-value purchases.
This extensive detail makes the AIS essential for accurate ITR e-filing.
How Checking Your AIS Can Save You from a Tax Notice
Reviewing your AIS before you file your ITR can be a game-changer and help you avoid unnecessary tax notices. Here’s why:
- Ensures Accuracy: Your ITR should align perfectly with the information the Income Tax Department has on record. Any mismatch can flag your return for scrutiny.
- Highlights Discrepancies: The AIS displays both “reported” and “modified” values. This allows you to cross-check data provided by various entities (like your bank or employer) against your own records. If you spot an error or missing information, you can submit feedback directly on the AIS portal.
- Prevents Under-reporting: With its broad coverage of financial transactions, the AIS helps you catch any income or transactions you might have accidentally overlooked or forgotten to include in your ITR. This proactive step helps prevent under-reporting, a common reason for tax notices.
- Avoids Mismatch Notices: The tax department uses advanced analytics to cross-reference data. If your ITR doesn’t match the information in your AIS, it’s highly likely you’ll receive a notice. Checking your AIS beforehand allows you to correct any such discrepancies.
- Boosts Compliance: By thoroughly reviewing your AIS, you’re actively ensuring accurate tax compliance, which significantly reduces the chances of scrutiny and subsequent tax notices.
Accessing Your AIS is Simple!
You can easily access your AIS through the Income Tax Department’s e-filing portal. Just follow these steps:
- Go to www.incometax.gov.in.
- Log in using your PAN or Aadhaar and password.
- Navigate to the ‘Services’ tab and select ‘Annual Information Statement (AIS)’, then click ‘Proceed’.
- Alternatively, go to the e-File menu, select ‘Income Tax Return’, and choose ‘View AIS’.
Need to download your AIS in PDF format? The password is your PAN in lowercase followed by your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. For example, if your PAN is ABCDE1234H and your date of birth is January 1, 1990, the password would be abcde1234h01011990.
Excel-based utilities for all four ITR forms are now available, and online filing is currently open for ITR-1, ITR-2, and ITR-4. Don’t wait until the last minute! Make checking your AIS a priority to ensure a seamless and worry-free ITR filing for AY 2025-26.