Download AIS, TIS, and Form 26AS Before Filing ITR for AY 2026-27

Before filing AY 2026-27 ITR, download AIS, TIS, and Form 26AS to check reported income, TDS, challans, refunds, and mismatch risk.

Many taxpayers open the filing portal, check the prefilled figures, and hit submit without verifying what those figures are based on. That shortcut is one of the most common causes of refund delays, demand notices, and mismatch intimations in any filing season. The Annual Information Statement (AIS), the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS), and Form 26AS each serve a distinct purpose — and all three need to be downloaded and reviewed before you finalise the return for FY 2025-26 in AY 2026-27.

This guide explains what each document contains, how they differ, and what to do when the records do not match your own.

What the three documents tell you

AIS, TIS, and Form 26AS — not the same thing

Form 26AS has been around the longest. It consolidates TDS deducted by employers and others, TCS collected, advance tax and self-assessment tax paid through challan, refunds issued, and high-value transaction information mapped to your PAN. For most salaried taxpayers, Form 26AS is the first place to verify that TDS figures match what the employer has deducted.

AIS is broader. It aggregates information reported by various entities — banks, brokers, mutual funds, employers, buyers of immovable property, and others — and shows it categorised under headings such as salary, interest, dividends, securities transactions, and SFT-reported information. AIS also records tax payments, TDS and TCS, and refund information. Crucially, AIS can surface income entries that do not appear in Form 26AS because they are not TDS-related.

TIS is a derived summary of AIS. It aggregates the same information under fewer heads and shows the value reported, the value modified (where you have submitted feedback), and the value that will be adopted for prefill. TIS is what drives the prefilled income data in your return.

The Income Tax Department's official guidance confirms that Form 26AS contains TDS, TCS, tax payments, refunds, and demand information, while AIS and TIS cover reported income more broadly.

What can go wrong if you skip this step

Consider a salaried taxpayer whose employer has correctly deducted and deposited TDS. Form 26AS looks clean. But the taxpayer also holds a savings account paying ₹18,000 in interest and holds mutual fund units where dividends of ₹7,500 were reinvested. Both are reported in AIS under interest income and dividend income respectively.

If the taxpayer relies only on prefill without reviewing AIS, those two income items may be missed. The return gets filed with understated income. Later, AIS-based verification by the department flags the discrepancy, and a mismatch notice or intimation under Section 143(1) follows. The taxpayer must then respond, file a revised return, or rectify — all of which take more time and energy than reviewing AIS before filing.

The reverse problem also occurs: AIS sometimes shows entries that are incorrect — a transaction reported twice, an amount inflated by the reporting entity, or income that belongs to another PAN due to a data error. Filing without checking means either overstating income (costing you money) or getting caught in a dispute about an amount you never received.

Documents and evidence to keep ready

• AIS download (PDF or JSON from the income tax portal for AY 2026-27)
• TIS download
• Form 26AS (from TRACES or the income tax portal)
• Form 16 or Form 16A from all deductors
• Bank statements for the full year

Save all downloads with clear file names and keep them alongside your bank statements. A brief note against each mismatch — "AIS shows ₹X from bank Y; bank statement shows ₹X; no discrepancy" or "AIS entry appears duplicate; submitted AIS feedback on [date]" — will be useful if a question arises later.

Pre-filing checklist

• Confirm the return covers FY 2025-26 income and is filed under AY 2026-27.
• Download AIS, TIS, and Form 26AS from the income tax portal before finalising any figures.
• Compare Form 16 or Form 16A with AIS and Form 26AS for each income head.
• Check bank interest, dividend, and securities transaction entries in AIS against your own records.
• Submit AIS feedback for any incorrect or duplicate entry before filing, and keep a record of the feedback.
• Reconcile challans in Form 26AS against your own payment records.
• File only once all figures are supportable, and e-verify promptly after submission.

Mistakes to avoid

• Downloading only Form 16 and skipping AIS entirely.
• Treating portal prefill as complete and accurate without cross-checking AIS.
• Ignoring AIS entries that have no corresponding TDS, such as bank interest or dividend credits.
• Claiming challans with BSR code, date, or serial number errors that will cause a credit mismatch.
• Not saving the downloaded PDFs before filing — they may update later in the season.

The most common and costly mistake is treating AIS and Form 26AS as the same document. They are not. A taxpayer with only salary income and no interest may find that the two documents look similar. A taxpayer with interest, dividends, mutual fund redemptions, or property sale proceeds will find them materially different.

Useful MyeCA paths

• AIS reconciliation playbook
• Wait for AIS before filing
• Expert consultation
• Choose your ITR form
• Income tax calculator
• Regime comparator

If there are significant mismatches between your records and AIS, the AIS reconciliation playbook covers each step in detail. For cases where the data is still updating — for example, where a deductor has not yet filed TDS returns for Q4 — the wait-before-filing guide explains when to hold and when to proceed.

For a CA-assisted review of mismatches before filing, use expert consultation.

Frequently asked questions

Should I check AIS even if Form 26AS is clean?

Yes. AIS can show other reported information such as interest, dividends, or securities transactions that do not appear in Form 26AS because they are not TDS-linked.

Can I file if AIS has wrong data?

Review the underlying source document first. If your records confirm the AIS entry is wrong, submit AIS feedback explaining the discrepancy, and preserve your evidence. You can then file with the correct figures and note the feedback submission in your working file.

Should I get CA review before filing?

CA review is sensible when there are significant mismatches between AIS, Form 26AS, and your own records — especially if the return involves capital gains, trading income, foreign assets, business income, a large refund, or any notice history.

CA technical review note

When reviewing AY 2026-27 returns, the file should document the AIS download date, TIS values adopted, Form 26AS verification status, and the reconciliation note for every material income entry. If AIS feedback was submitted, note the date and the department's response. Record the computation bridge from source statements to the final return figures. If challan credits are being claimed, verify the BSR code, challan date, and amount in Form 26AS before entering them in the return.

The minimum file should include AIS, TIS, Form 26AS, source statements, the reconciliation note, challans, and the portal acknowledgement. This record set is the foundation for responding to any future query or notice.

Final takeaway

AIS shows broader reported information than Form 26AS. Form 26AS is the primary source for tax credit verification. Downloading and comparing all three documents before the return preview is not optional — it is the step that prevents most of the mismatches and notices that create filing problems after submission.