All about Annual Information Statement(AIS)

A few years back, one of my friends said DATA is the NEW OIL. You collate the data, drill deep and extract the information, i.e., new oil. The Government, precisely, the Income Tax department is now in the business of NEW Oil.

Just before writing this note, I logged into my account in the Income Tax portal, visited the AIS page, under the Services tab. For the previous year 2020-21, I found an 11 pages document!

What does it have?

AIS is a compilation of information gathered or populated from various financial service providers, for example, CDSL/NSDL for shares and mutual fund transactions, Banks for savings and other deposit interest, cash deposits, credit cards, Sub-Registrar for property registrations, etc.

AIS is a comprehensive database that covers almost all financial transactions executed by the taxpayers quoting his PAN number.

Is this helpful to the taxpayer?

We understand it is the NEW OIL for the Government. Will this help the taxpayer? Well, to an extent. They will get to know upfront (before filing the return), what the government knows about them! If something is missing to be reported, intentionally or otherwise, it helps to capture it in the IT Return

Is there any issue with AIS reporting?

One of the biggest concerns is the duplication of reporting, what if CSDL data is captured twice? Instead of 80 lakhs worth transactions, it shows Rs.1.60 Crores? Or while transmitting, the data of another PAN is populated against your PAN number? It’s a headache, right? It’s shocking to see so much information against your PAN.

Remedial action

Embrace more work! Go through the entire statement, check whether it belongs to you or not. Wherever you feel it is duplicated or wrongly posted, etc., you have to choose the options like Income is not taxable, Information relates to other PAN, or duplicate information, etc.

This statement also captures TDS or Tax paid information; similar to what is posted in another place. i.e., Form 26AS,

The department says to consider TDS details as per Form 26AS as authentic information ignoring what is given in the AIS portal for tax computation purposes.

To sum up, the business of linking PAN to all high-value transactions is finding its logical conclusion now. The taxman has your financial horoscope! If your investment is overshooting your declared income, they can raise a red flag. Get ready with the explanation.  Now is the time for me to check my data of 11 pages!!!

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About B E Kumar Prasad

B E Kumar Prasad
He is a Practicing Chartered Accountant in Bengaluru, India. He has 28+ years of experience in income tax, business setup, and NRI matters. He is also an Insolvency Professional, Registered Valuer (F&SA) and Social Auditor.Prasad welcomes your comments and questions. Please email him at simplifiedlaws20@gmail.com

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Vijayanand
3 years ago

It was helpful to understand new Developments
Vijayanand
MD, British Barristers Blr

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