Every year, thousands of taxpayers file their return and then get a notice because one number did not match. In most cases the problem was not fraud. It was a skipped check. The taxpayer looked at only one statement, or trusted the pre-filled data without comparing it to their own records.
Three statements sit behind your return: Form 26AS, the Annual Information Statement (AIS), and the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS). They look similar, but they do different jobs. If you know which one to trust for which number, you can catch most mismatches before you file.
Quick answer: In the form 26as vs ais comparison, Form 26AS is your tax credit statement — it proves the TDS, TCS and tax payments you can claim. AIS is the wider record of your income and financial transactions, and TIS is the short summary of AIS that feeds your pre-filled return. Check all three before filing, and fix AIS errors through feedback and 26AS errors through your deductor.
What is Form 26AS?
Form 26AS is the tax credit statement linked to your PAN. It shows the tax that others have deducted or collected from you, the advance tax and self-assessment tax you have paid yourself, and any refunds issued to you. Banks and loan officers also accept it as proof of tax credits, which is one reason it still matters even after AIS arrived.
It is organised in parts: one part for TDS, one for TCS, one for tax paid by you, and parts for refunds and certain high-value transactions. The key point is its scope. Form 26AS is about tax credits. It does not try to list every rupee you earned.
That is why a common worry is misplaced. If your savings account interest does not appear in Form 26AS, that is normal in most cases. No TDS is usually deducted on savings interest, so there is no tax credit to show. The interest still has to be reported in your return, and it will usually appear in AIS instead.
From tax year 2026-27 onward, Form 26AS has been renamed Form 168 under the new form numbering. Do not panic if you still see the name Form 26AS for an earlier year. The rename applies going forward, and the job of the statement — proving your tax credits — stays the same.
What is AIS?
AIS, the Annual Information Statement, is the wider record. It pulls together information reported about your PAN from many sources: your employer, banks, mutual fund houses, registrars, brokers, and other reporting entities. It covers salary, savings and fixed deposit interest, dividends, mutual fund purchases and redemptions, share transactions, property deals, foreign remittances, and high-value transactions reported under the Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT).
Think of it this way. Form 26AS answers the question: “How much tax credit do I have?” AIS answers a much bigger question: “What does the tax department already know about my money?” That second question is the one that decides whether your return will be questioned later.
AIS also has something Form 26AS does not: a feedback option. If an entry is wrong, duplicated, or not yours at all, you can flag it on the AIS portal. You cannot edit the entry yourself, but your feedback changes how the summary treats it, as explained below.
What is TIS?
TIS, the Taxpayer Information Summary, is the short version of AIS. It groups the detailed AIS entries into category totals: total salary, total interest, total dividends, total capital gains, and so on. For each category it can show two values: the value as first reported, and the processed value after your accepted feedback.
The processed value is the one that matters. The department works with the processed value when it matches your return, and the pre-filled data in your return comes from TIS. So if you give feedback on a wrong AIS entry and it is accepted, check TIS afterwards. The total should move to the corrected figure. If it has not moved, do not assume the problem is solved.
Form 26AS vs AIS vs TIS: the comparison table
| Question | Form 26AS | AIS | TIS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main job | Prove tax credits | Show all reported income and transactions | Summarise AIS for filing |
| Covers | TDS, TCS, advance tax, self-assessment tax, refunds | Salary, interest, dividends, mutual funds, shares, property, SFT items, remittances | Category totals from AIS |
| Can you give feedback? | No — only the deductor can correct it | Yes, on the AIS portal | Only through AIS feedback |
| Feeds pre-filled ITR? | No, not directly | Indirectly, through TIS | Yes |
| Accepted as tax-credit proof by banks? | Yes | Rarely asked for | No |
The table explains the most common filing mistake. People check only Form 26AS because that is what they did for years. Then AIS catches a dividend, a mutual fund redemption, or savings interest that 26AS never showed, and the return does not match. Checking only one statement is no longer enough.
Which one should you trust for ITR filing?
There is no single winner. Use each statement for what it is good at.
For TDS and TCS credits, trust Form 26AS. Claim credit strictly as per its figures. If a credit is missing there, the fix runs through the person who deducted the tax, not through your return. Filing a return that claims a credit the department cannot see in 26AS is a fast route to a notice or a delayed refund.
For income reporting, trust AIS, after you have checked it against your own records. Salary slips, bank interest certificates, dividend statements, and broker profit-and-loss statements are your ground truth. Where AIS is right, report that figure. Where AIS is wrong, give feedback and keep proof — a bank statement, a contract note, or a corrected certificate.
For a final cross-check, use TIS. Before you submit, compare each TIS total with your own total for that head of income. If the two match, or if you can explain every difference in one line, you are ready to file.
Your actual income always comes first. AIS is the department’s information mirror, not a court order. If AIS shows income you never received, you should not report it just because it is printed there. Give feedback, keep your proof, and file on the basis of your real records.
How to download Form 26AS
- Log in to the income tax e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in with your PAN and password.
- Go to e-File, then Income Tax Returns, then View Form 26AS.
- Confirm the disclaimer. You will be redirected to the TRACES website.
- On TRACES, open View Tax Credit (Form 26AS).
- Select the assessment year. For income earned in FY 2025-26, that is AY 2026-27.
- View it on screen as HTML, or download it as a PDF and keep a copy with your return papers.
Many banks also offer a shortcut through net banking. If your bank supports it, you can reach Form 26AS from the tax section of your net banking dashboard without a separate portal login. Either way you are authenticated, so be wary of any third-party site that claims to show your 26AS from your PAN alone.
Download it before you start filing, and check it again just before you submit. A late correction by a deductor can add an entry close to the deadline, and a credit that appears late is still a credit you should claim.
How to download AIS and TIS
- Log in to incometax.gov.in with your PAN and password.
- Go to Services, then Annual Information Statement (AIS).
- You will be redirected to the AIS portal. Select the financial year.
- Open AIS to see the detailed entries, and switch to the TIS tab for the summary.
- Download AIS as PDF, JSON, or CSV, and TIS as PDF.
The AIS PDF is password-protected. The password is your PAN in lowercase, followed by your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. For example, if your PAN is AAAAA0000A and your date of birth is 1 January 1990, the password is aaaaa0000a01011990. For a non-individual, use the date of incorporation or formation instead.
The 5-step reconciliation to do before you file
Do this in order, before you open the return form. It takes about half an hour for most salaried taxpayers, and it prevents months of notice replies.
Step 1: Download all three statements for the right year. Wrong-year downloads are a silly but common error. FY 2025-26 income belongs to AY 2026-27.
Step 2: Check every TDS credit in 26AS against your own papers. Take your salary slips, Form 16, bank interest certificates, and rent receipts. For each 26AS entry, check the deductor’s TAN, the amount, and the quarter. If a credit your employer told you about is missing, contact your payroll team at once. The tax may not have been deposited, or it may have been filed under a wrong PAN.
Step 3: Go through AIS head by head. Open each category — salary, interest, dividend, mutual funds, capital gains, foreign remittances — and ask three questions about each entry: Do I recognise this transaction? Does the amount match my records? Is it really mine? Flag anything incorrect, inflated, duplicated, or unfamiliar.
Step 4: Compare AIS with TIS. Add up the AIS entries for one head and compare the total with the TIS figure for that head. If TIS shows more dividend than you can count in AIS, or less interest than your bank certificates show, note the gap. Either TIS has included something you cannot see at your view level, or it has not picked up a correction yet.
Step 5: Build your own one-page reconciliation. Make a simple sheet with one row per head of income: salary, interest and dividends, capital gains, and other income. Put three columns beside each row: what your papers say, what TIS says, and the difference. Your goal is to explain every rupee of difference before you file. If you cannot explain a difference, do not file yet. Sort it out first.
Why mismatches happen, and how to fix each one
A deductor corrected a return late. Your employer or bank may have filed a revised TDS return after fixing an error. The corrected data can appear in AIS before it reaches TRACES and Form 26AS, so the two statements can disagree for weeks. Fix: wait for the correction to flow through, or ask the deductor to confirm the revised filing. Do not claim a credit that 26AS does not show yet.
The same transaction was reported twice. Dividends are a classic case. The company and the registrar can both report the same dividend, so AIS may show it twice. TIS is supposed to remove the duplicate, but it does not always succeed. Fix: give feedback on the duplicate AIS entry, and file on the basis of the single real dividend.
A high-value transaction is not income. A large cash deposit, a property purchase, or heavy credit card spending can appear in AIS under SFT reporting. That does not make it taxable income by itself. Selling a vehicle and depositing the money, for example, is a reportable transaction, not fresh income. Fix: report the real income correctly in your return, and keep the source document that explains the transaction. If the entry is wrong, give feedback.
Someone else’s TDS landed on your PAN. A deductor who typed the wrong PAN can push their TDS credit into your 26AS, or push your credit elsewhere. Fix: only the deductor can correct this, through a revised TDS statement. Contact them in writing and keep the reply.
A figure is shown in AIS but not in your pre-filled return. Pre-filled data comes from TIS, which comes from AIS, but timing gaps happen. Fix: do not delete a correct pre-filled figure, and do not ignore a missing one. Enter the correct figure from your records, and keep the supporting document.
What changed, and what stayed the same
What changed is the scale of what the department sees. Form 26AS alone used to be the main check. Now AIS records a far wider set of transactions, and TIS turns that record into the numbers that pre-fill your return. A taxpayer who files on the basis of Form 16 and 26AS alone, without opening AIS, is filing blind to half the data the department holds.
What stayed the same is the rule underneath it all. You file on your actual income, supported by your own documents. The statements are checks on your filing, not substitutes for it. And the correction routes have not changed either: AIS errors go through AIS feedback, while 26AS errors still need the deductor to file a correction.
Two timing facts are worth fixing in your diary. If you missed the original filing deadline for AY 2026-27, a belated return can still be filed by 31 December 2026, with a late fee of up to Rs 5,000 (Rs 1,000 if your total income is Rs 5 lakh or less). After filing, e-verify within 30 days — an unverified return is treated as if it was never filed.
By the numbers
- 3 statements, 3 jobs: 26AS proves credits, AIS shows the full picture, TIS summarises it for filing. Checking only one of the three is the single biggest cause of post-filing mismatches, according to the pattern described across the department’s own portal guides and practitioner write-ups.
- 2 correction routes, and they are not interchangeable: AIS entries are fixed through feedback on the AIS portal; 26AS entries can only be fixed by the deductor filing a correction. Using the wrong route wastes weeks.
- 30 days: the window to e-verify your return after filing, as covered in eircicai’s e-verification guide. Miss it and the return does not count.
- 31 December 2026: the last date for a belated return for AY 2026-27, as covered in eircicai’s belated-return guide. Reconcile before this date, not after it, because a belated return filed on wrong figures still attracts the same matching checks.
Practical impact: who needs this check most
Salaried taxpayers with only salary and bank interest can finish the check quickly, but they should still open AIS. Savings interest and dividends are the two items most often missed by people who only check 26AS.
Freelancers and consultants need it more. Client TDS, GST turnover reported in AIS, and professional receipts can all appear in different places, and a mismatch between AIS turnover and return income is a common trigger for questions. If you are a freelancer, also read eircicai’s guide on which ITR form to file before you start.
Property sellers and mutual fund investors need it most of all. Capital gains appear in AIS through broker and registrar reporting, not in 26AS, so a return that reports gains from memory while AIS shows a different figure is asking for a notice. Compare your broker’s capital gains statement with AIS line by line.
If a mismatch does turn into a notice, do not ignore it. Read what the notice actually asks for, gather the same reconciliation sheet you made before filing, and reply with documents, not arguments. Eircicai’s guide on income tax notices explains the reply process and the time limits that apply.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main difference between AIS and Form 26AS?
Form 26AS is a statement of tax credits: TDS, TCS, and tax you paid. AIS is a much wider statement that also includes income details such as savings interest, dividends, share and mutual fund transactions, and foreign remittances, even where no tax was deducted. Use 26AS for credits and AIS for income.
Which one should I trust for ITR filing: AIS or Form 26AS?
Use both, each for its own purpose. For TDS and TCS credits, rely on Form 26AS, because it is the master record for tax collected. For income reporting, rely on AIS, because it holds more detail from reporting entities. Your own documents are the final check on both.
Does Form 26AS show capital gains?
No. Form 26AS is limited to tax credits, tax payments, and refunds. Capital gains appear in AIS, reported by brokers and mutual fund registrars. If you sold shares or mutual funds, check AIS and your broker’s statement, not 26AS.
Why is my savings bank interest not showing in Form 26AS?
This is normal. Form 26AS only records transactions where tax was deducted. Since no TDS is usually deducted on savings interest, it will not appear there. Banks report the interest to the department through SFT reporting, so it will appear in AIS, and you must report it in your return.
What should I do if there is a mismatch between AIS and Form 26AS?
First, work out which statement is wrong. If an AIS entry is wrong or duplicated, give feedback on the AIS portal and check that TIS updates to the corrected value. If a 26AS credit is wrong or missing, contact the deductor, because only they can correct it through a revised TDS statement. Do not claim a credit that 26AS does not show.
What are processed and unprocessed values in TIS?
The unprocessed value is what the reporting source first sent. The processed value adjusts for feedback you have already given through the AIS portal. The department works with the processed value when it matches your return, so always check TIS after giving feedback, and file on the processed figure where it is correct.
Is Form 26AS discontinued after the launch of AIS?
No. Form 26AS has not been discontinued. It remains available through TRACES and is still the parallel source for verifying tax credits and TDS details. Download and check both documents before filing. From tax year 2026-27 onward it carries the new name Form 168, but its job is unchanged.
Can I file my ITR ignoring the AIS data?
You can file on the basis of your actual income, but ignoring AIS is unwise. The department will match your return against AIS and TIS, and an unexplained gap is the most common reason for a post-filing notice. Where AIS is wrong, give feedback and keep proof. Where it is right, report it. Ignoring it does not make the data go away.
Official sources
- Income Tax e-Filing Portal — download Form 26AS, AIS, and TIS from your login: https://www.incometax.gov.in/
- TRACES (TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System) — Form 26AS tax credit statements, reached through the e-filing portal: https://incometaxindia.gov.in/
Reviewed by Asuthod Rathod, CA
This guide was reviewed for accuracy by Asuthod Rathod, CA. Last updated: 27 October 2026.
Disclaimer: This article is general information only, not tax advice for your specific case. Tax rules and portal steps change from time to time. Check the official income tax portal for the latest position, or speak to a chartered accountant before acting on a mismatch that involves a large amount.
Editorial byline for eircicai freelancer tax and ITR filing guides — covering 44ADA presumptive tax, advance tax, and ITR filing. Content is reviewed by Asuthod Rathod, CA.