How to get a copy of your AIS to make filing your ITR easier

How to get a copy of your AIS to make filing your ITR easier

In the Income Tax Return (ITR), a taxpayer must include all essential information for calculating total income earned. While Form 16 has information on salary income and Form 16A contains information on interest on Fixed Deposits (FDs), it is difficult to acquire information for those earnings for which no tax is deducted at source (TDS).

Taxpayers can utilise Form 26AS to acquire all of the information they need about their income and taxes. Form 26A, on the other hand, typically contains information on income where tax has been deducted as TDS.

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A taxpayer must include all necessary information in the Income Tax Return (ITR) in order to calculate total income earned. While Form 16 has information on salary income and Form 16A contains information on interest on Fixed Deposits (FDs), information on incomes for which no tax is deducted at source is difficult to come by (TDS).

Form 26AS allows taxpayers to obtain all of the information they require regarding their income and taxes. Form 26A, on the other hand, usually provides information on income that has been subjected to TDS deductions.

As a result, after the implementation of AIS, Form 26AS will lose some of its utility.

ANNUAL INFORMATION STATEMENT

Is Form 26AS going to be phased out?

It will not be stopped for the time being, and a taxpayer can access both Form 26AS and AIS at the same time. As a result, knowing and submitting information for your ITR will be a breeze.

How do you get access to your AIS?

To obtain the AIS –

  • To begin, go to incometax.gov.in and log in to your account.
  • Then go to the Services Tab and choose AIS from the dropdown menu.
  • When you select the AIS option, a new tab will appear with two options on the left side of the page: Tax Information Summary (TIS) and AIS on the right side.

You can download both TIS and AIS because they both include the same information, however TIS contains a summary while AIS contains details.

The statements are available in PDF and JPEG formats for download. Your PAN Number (in CAPITAL) followed by your Date of Birth (DDMMYYYY) 

AIS displays ALL of your digital financial transactions that the IRS is aware of.

AIS displays all of your digital financial transactions that the IRS is aware of.

On November 1, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service introduced a new statement for taxpayers called the Annual Information Statement (AIS). According to chartered accountants, the new AIS will disclose details of the taxpayer’s most digital financial transactions within a financial year (FY).
The AIS contains more information than the Form 26AS, commonly known as a tax passbook, which is provided to a taxpayer.

Here’s all you need to know about AIS, including how it differs from Form 26AS.

What exactly is AIS?

The AIS is a detailed statement that lists all of your financial transactions that were reported to the IRS by various entities (primarily financial institutions) during the fiscal year. This comprises earnings from a variety of sources, such as salary, interest, and the sale or purchase of securities, such as stock, mutual funds, and bonds. The AIS, for example, will show any sale or purchase of shares or mutual fund units, as well as any dividends or interest received.

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Part A and Part B are the two portions of AIS. Part A provides general information such as the taxpayer’s PAN, masked Aadhaar number, name, date of birth, and so on. TDS, TCS, Specified financial transactions, tax payment, tax demand and refund, and other information are all included in Part B.

The tax department noted in a press statement that taxpayers will be able to download AIS information in PDF, JSON, and CSV forms.

In addition to AIS, the IRS also introduced the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS). This is a condensed version of the information from the AIS. According to a news release from the IRS, “TIS displays the processed value (i.e., the value obtained when information is deduplicated using pre-defined rules) as well as the derived value (i.e. the value derived after considering the taxpayer feedback and processed value). If the taxpayer provides input through AIS, the resulting data in TIS will be used to pre-fill the Return (pre-filling will be activated in stages).”

As a result, if you find an inaccuracy in your TIS or AIS, you must rectify it in the AIS, which will be corrected in real-time in the TIS as well. It is critical to review the AIS and provide input. If there is an error and you have not provided feedback seeking rectification, the income tax department may assume that the information reflected in the AIS is correct, and you may be asked to explain the discrepancy between your income tax return and the information in the AIS.

“A facility has been provided for the taxpayer to submit online comments if they believe the information is erroneous, relates to another person/year, or is duplicate. It is also possible to provide feedback by submitting information in bulk “According to the press release.

What is the difference between AIS and Form 26AS?

The TDS and TCS deposited against the taxpayer’s PAN during the financial year are listed on Form 26AS, which is similar to a tax passbook. Furthermore, information linked to specific transactions such as mutual fund unit purchases, overseas transfers, and so on will be reflected only if the transaction exceeds the stipulated limit or if tax has been deducted in the modified version of Form 26AS. For example, if tax has been deducted from a fixed deposit’s interest, it will be reported in Form 26AS.

The AIS is a more comprehensive system. In the case of AIS, transactions will be reflected regardless of whether or not tax has been deducted. As a result, even if interest on a fixed deposit has not been taxed, it will still appear in the AIS. TDS, TCS, sale, purchase of stock shares, mutual funds, dividend, interest income, and other items will be reflected on the statement. The number of transactions that can be included in the AIS is not limited. As a result, even if you put Rs 2,000 in a mutual fund SIP, your AIS would reflect it. AIS essentially represents all of your little and large specified financial transactions that have been reported to the IRS by various financial companies. These entities are required by law to report in this manner. As a result, AIS displays all of your financial transactions that the Internal Revenue Service is aware of.

7 ways in which taxpayers can reduce their tax liability

How can AIS assist taxpayers?

Naveen Wadhwa, DGM, Taxmann.com, a chartered accountant, states, “All financial transactions are displayed in AIS, including salary income, dividend income, interest income from savings and fixed deposits, sale and purchase of stocks, and so on. It would be simple for a taxpayer to report the correct information in their income tax return with the support of all of this financial information. The taxpayer can prevent a discrepancy between the data reported on the income tax return and the real financial transaction.”

“If you earned Rs 50 as a dividend from stock shares, the AIS will reflect this financial transaction. Similarly, the AIS will reflect all TDS and TCS deposited against your PAN during the financial year “Wadhwa says.

With the aid of AIS, you may double-check all of your financial transactions before reporting them to the income tax authorities. This will make it easier for you to double-check and record all of the needed information on your tax return. Dividends received in FY 2020-21, for example, are taxable in your hands. As a result, even if the sum is as low as Rs 50, you must disclose it in your ITR and pay tax on it. If you forget to report this Rs 50, the AIS will assist you remember.

In a press release, the Internal Revenue Service stated, “When filing the ITR, the value displayed in the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) may be taken into account. If the ITR has already been filed and some information has been left out, the return may be updated to add the missing information.”

“In the event that there is a discrepancy between the TDS/TCS information or details of tax paid as displayed in Form26AS on TRACES portal and the TDS/TCS information or details of tax paid as displayed in AIS on Compliance Portal, the taxpayer may rely on the information displayed on TRACES portal for the purpose of filing ITR and other tax compliance purposes,” the press release stated.

The revenue loss from gasoline tax cuts expected to be lower.

The revenue loss from gasoline tax cuts expected to be lower.

According to estimates by ratings firm ICRA NSE 0.24 percent, states will lose around Rs 44,000 crore in revenue as a result of the Centre’s reduction in value-added tax on gasoline and diesel, as well as a reduction in excise duty, but gains from the more-than-budgeted tax devolution will be relatively higher at Rs 60,000 crore.

It did, however, warn against the budgetary risk posed by an increase in state government guarantees to state-level enterprises, citing the minimal contributions made by numerous states to their guarantee redemption funds.

In an effort to provide respite to consumers from rising crude oil prices, the central government reduced the road and infrastructure cess (RIC) component of the Central excise duty levied on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 10, respectively, effective November 4. Although the RIC component is not shared with states, because states impose VAT on an ad-valorem basis, ICRA estimates that the excise cut will reduce their VAT inflows by Rs 9,000 crore.

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“We predict a Rs 350 billion revenue loss to all states and UTs as a result of the VAT cuts on these fuels” (Rs 35,000 crore). As a result, their total income foregone for FY2022 is estimated to be Rs 440 billion (Rs 44,000 crore), in line with the predicted revenue loss of the GoI (Government of India),” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA, during a webinar on Thursday.

The fiscal loss or money foregone, according to Nayar, is justified given the benefits in terms of lowering inflation and raising overall confidence levels among households and other economic players.

Benefits of Tax Devolution

Central tax devolution, on the other hand, is expected to exceed the government’s FY22 budget expectations of Rs 6.7 lakh crore by Rs 60,000 crore, and the FY21 provisional actuals by Rs 1.3 lakh crore, according to the ratings company.

Despite this, tax devolution to states remained practically unchanged in the first half of FY21 and FY22, at Rs 2.6 lakh crore. In the July-September quarter of this year, the devolution amount increased to Rs 47,500 crore each month, up from Rs 39,200 crore per month in the preceding three months.

“Based on the expected upward revision in tax devolution to Rs 7.3 trillion (Rs 7.3 lakh crore) in FY22, keeping the monthly amount of tax devolution at Rs 475 billion in October-February FY2022 will back-end the release of Rs 2.3 trillion to March 2022, which will be inefficient from the cash-flow perspective for the states,” Nayar said, arguing that the government should increase monthly devolution to states to avoid back-ended transfers.

“The income visibility will boost confidence and allow them to accelerate spending, particularly growth-friendly capital spending,” she added.

In FY22, ICRA estimates that most states would have a budget deficit of around 3.5 percent of GDP, which will be sustainable, and only a few states will need to borrow more than 10% of GDP. In addition to the carried over borrowings from last year, they will have access to the Centre’s back-to-back loans totaling over Rs 1.59 lakh crore for GST compensation, which will provide them with additional funding.

“Only a few states are likely to face financing constraints beyond the current year’s sources,” Nayar added.

Is it difficult to file an income tax return in India?

State development loans have been issued at a 15% lower rate than last year, she noted, with only five states borrowing more than they did in the same time of FY21.


Guarantees at the state level

States provide state-level bodies with guarantees that allow them to borrow money from a variety of sources. The guarantee ceiling is set by each state. States have the ability to set and amend their guarantee ceilings, unlike the yearly borrowing limit for debt, which is determined by the Government of India. This enables them to offer new guarantees in a short amount of time without the need for government approval or considerable scrutiny from the Reserve Bank of India.

Some governments had already provided significant guarantees before the epidemic began, according to ICRA, and the stock of guarantees in a few states is believed to have risen considerably since then.

“Without proper data, it’s unclear how much of the recent increase in guarantees is due to non-revenue-generating projects that would eventually be serviced by the respective governments, making them an actual obligation rather than a contingent liability.” This is a financial concern, especially given the small contributions made by numerous governments to their guarantee redemption accounts,” Nayar said.