AIS, TIS, 26AS, and Form 16: How to Reconcile Before Filing (AY 2026-27)

The single highest-value 30 minutes you'll spend in any Indian filing season is the reconciliation pass. Most filings that result in 143(1) intimations — the automated mismatch notices the CPC issues months after filing — fail not because the underlying tax was wrong, but because the filed numbers didn't reconcile to AIS.

The reconciliation is mechanical. Open four documents, walk through each section, mark every line as either "matches" or "needs feedback", file the feedbacks, and only then file the return. Done well, the return is processed cleanly the first time. Done poorly, you spend weeks responding to intimations 4-8 months later.

This is the comprehensive guide to all four documents — what each shows, where they disagree, and the routine that makes reconciliation routine.

The four documents and what each one actually contains

Form 16 — your employer's record of you

Form 16 is issued by your employer (or each employer, if you switched mid-year) and covers exactly one FY of salary income from that employer. It has two parts:

• Part A: Quarter-by-quarter summary of salary paid and TDS deducted by the employer. Generated automatically from the TRACES portal — what your employer has actually deposited as TDS on your behalf.
• Part B: Detailed salary breakup, exemptions claimed (HRA, LTA), deductions allowed in payroll (80C through your salary, etc.), and the final taxable income / tax computation as the employer recorded it.

Form 16 is not the complete tax picture — it covers only this one employer's record. If you had multiple employers in the FY, you'll have multiple Form 16s. If you had non-salary income (interest, capital gains, freelance fees), Form 16 misses all of it.

Issue date: Required to be issued by 15 June following FY end. Many large employers issue earlier; some smaller employers run late.

Form 16A — for non-salary TDS

Form 16A is the equivalent of Form 16 but for non-salary income. Issued by anyone who deducted TDS from a payment to you — banks (on FD interest), tenants (on rent above ₹50K/month under 194-IB), clients (on professional fees under 194J), depositors (on interest under 194A), etc.

You may have multiple Form 16As across the year. Each should reconcile to the corresponding TDS line in Form 26AS.

Form 26AS — the IT Department's TDS / tax-payment ledger

Form 26AS is the official record of:

• Part I: TDS deducted from your income across all deductors — banks, employers, brokers, tenants, clients. This is the consolidated TDS ledger.
• Part II: TCS (Tax Collected at Source) — typically when you bought a car > ₹10L, paid for foreign travel > ₹7L, or made overseas remittances above ₹7L under LRS.
• Part III: Advance tax / self-assessment tax payments you made directly via challan.
• Part IV: Refunds issued by the Department in prior years.
• Part V: Details of high-value transactions reported under SFT (Statement of Financial Transactions) — but this part has been progressively migrated into AIS.

Form 26AS is the authoritative source for TDS credit. If your filing claims ₹2.5 lakh of TDS credit, that figure must match what Form 26AS shows. Mismatches result in the credit being denied at 143(1).

Where to download: TRACES portal (https://www.tdscpc.gov.in) or via the Income Tax portal (e-File → Income Tax Returns → View Form 26AS).

AIS — the comprehensive annual information statement

AIS is the broadest of the four. It captures every transaction reported across the financial system to the IT Department:

• TDS / TCS (also in 26AS).
• Interest from savings, FDs, recurring deposits — reported by every bank.
• Dividend income — reported by every listed company / AMC.
• Mutual fund purchases, redemptions, switches, dividends — reported by AMCs and RTAs.
• Securities trades — reported by exchanges via depositories.
• Real estate purchases / sales — reported by sub-registrars under Section 285BA.
• High-value cash deposits and withdrawals — reported by banks above thresholds.
• Foreign remittances under LRS — reported by remitting banks.
• Crypto transactions — reported by Indian exchanges.
• Insurance premium payments — reported by insurers.
• SFT (Statement of Financial Transactions) — credit-card spends > ₹2L per FY, fixed deposits > ₹10L per FY in any one bank, etc.

AIS is segmented into multiple information categories like 'Salary', 'Interest', 'Dividend', 'Sale of securities', 'Purchase of immovable property'. You can drill into each category to see the underlying line items.

Where to download: Income Tax portal → Services → Annual Information Statement (AIS).

TIS — the consolidated derivative of AIS

TIS (Tax Information Statement) is a deduplicated, aggregated, return-prefill-friendly version of AIS. Where AIS has 14 line items showing your one mutual-fund redemption (because the AMC, the depository, and the registrar all reported it independently), TIS aggregates them into one summary value per category.

TIS is what the income tax portal uses to pre-populate your return. AIS is the audit trail behind TIS.

For most users, TIS is what you reconcile against (the summary you compare to your records); AIS is what you drill into when TIS shows a number you don't recognise.

Where the four documents disagree

The four documents are produced from different sources and processed at different times. Disagreements are common. The patterns:

The 30-minute reconciliation routine

The mechanical version of the reconciliation, in order:

Step 1 (5 min) — Download all four documents

Pull from the Income Tax portal:

• AIS — both the bulk download and the per-category drill-down PDFs.
• TIS — the consolidated PDF.
• Form 26AS — via TRACES.
• Form 16 — from your employer (or the company portal).

If you had multiple employers / freelance income, pull the corresponding Form 16As from each deductor too.

Step 2 (5 min) — Salary reconciliation

Open Form 16 Part B. Compare:

• Gross salary in Form 16 to AIS Salary section.
• Tax deducted in Form 16 Part A to Form 26AS Part I.
• Standard deduction, HRA exemption, 80C in Form 16 to your own records.

If salary in AIS exceeds Form 16, you may have unreported employer-side perquisites (e.g., RSU vests reported by Indian employer but not visible to you). If salary in AIS is lower than Form 16, the employer may have under-reported to the Department — flag with payroll.

Step 3 (5 min) — Interest income reconciliation

Open AIS → Interest section. List every line item:

• Bank-by-bank: each savings interest, each FD interest.
• Sum across all banks.

Compare to your bank statements / interest certificates. Where you disagree, file AIS feedback for the disputed line. Where you agree, copy the total to your interest income field in the return.

Step 4 (5 min) — Capital gains reconciliation

Open AIS → Sale of securities (and Real estate sale, if applicable). For each line:

• Confirm against your CAS (Consolidated Account Statement from CAMS / KFintech) or broker contract notes.
• Watch for AIS errors on cost basis — the AIS often reports sale value but doesn't always carry cost basis correctly. Use your own records as authoritative for cost basis.

This is the highest-impact reconciliation step — wrong CG numbers are the #1 reason 143(1) intimations issue.

For the underlying capital gains rules, see Capital Gains Tax in India for AY 2026-27. For ESOP/RSU specifics, see ESOPs and RSUs in India.

Step 5 (5 min) — Property and high-value transactions

Open AIS → Purchase / sale of immovable property and SFT lines. For property:

• Confirm sale / purchase value, year, parties.
• For property sold in FY 2025-26, confirm capital gains computation matches what you'll file (Section 54 reinvestment, indexation choice for grandfathered properties).

For SFT lines (cash deposits > ₹10L, credit card spends > ₹2L, etc.):

• These rarely affect tax directly but are flagged for cross-verification of "income mismatch" — e.g., low declared income with high credit-card spend.
• If anything looks wrong, file feedback.

Step 6 (5 min) — File feedback for every mismatch

For every line where AIS / TIS disagrees with your records:

• Use the AIS portal "Submit Feedback" button.
• Choose the appropriate reason (incorrect, duplicate, partially correct).
• Provide a brief explanation.
• Save the acknowledgement number.

The feedback acknowledgement is your primary defense if a 143(1) intimation issues later. Even if the feedback isn't accepted by the source, having submitted it pre-filing demonstrates good-faith reconciliation.

Step 7 — File the return

With the reconciliation done, fill the return using the reconciled numbers (your records as primary, AIS feedback acknowledgements as backup). Do not blindly accept the portal pre-fill — pre-fill is sourced from TIS, which may carry mismatches you've not yet resolved.

Verify your tax calculation pre-filing

What 143(1) intimations actually look like

A 143(1) intimation is the CPC's automated processing summary, typically issued 4-8 months after filing. It compares your filed numbers against AIS/TIS data and flags differences. Three categories of intimation:

• No demand / no refund: filing matches CPC's records. No action needed.
• Refund due: CPC accepted your filing and is refunding excess TDS / advance tax. The refund hits your bank in 4-12 weeks.
• Demand notice: CPC found a mismatch and computed additional tax owed. You have 30 days to respond / pay, or interest under Section 220(2) starts accumulating at 1% per month.

The "demand notice" version usually breaks down by line — "Capital gains declared by you: ₹2L; Capital gains per AIS: ₹3.5L; Difference: ₹1.5L taxed at 12.5% = ₹18,750 + interest." If your reconciliation evidence (AIS feedback acknowledgements, broker statements showing the AIS error) shows AIS was wrong, you respond via the portal with the evidence.

If you didn't reconcile pre-filing, the 30-day window forces a hurried investigation that sometimes ends with you paying tax you don't owe, simply because the response was incomplete.

When professional help pays for itself

The reconciliation routine handles most situations. Three exceptions where a CA's involvement is genuinely necessary:

• Filing for the first year with foreign assets (Schedule FA) — getting the disclosure structure right at year one prevents recurring errors.
• Multiple property sales in the same FY where Section 54 / 54F / 54EC reinvestments are in play.
• A 143(1) demand notice has already issued and the response deadline is approaching.

For straightforward salaried filings, the 30-minute self-reconciliation is enough.

Common mistakes that produce 143(1) demands

After several seasons of watching the same issues recur:

1. Skipping AIS download because "26AS shows TDS, that's all I need"

26AS doesn't show capital gains, dividends, or mutual fund redemptions. The CPC nonetheless reconciles your filed CG / dividend numbers against AIS. Skipping AIS means filing without seeing the data CPC will compare against.

2. Accepting portal pre-fill without checking AIS source lines

The portal pre-fill is a TIS aggregate. If TIS includes an erroneous AMC report (e.g., a switch transaction wrongly classified as a redemption), the pre-fill carries that error into your return. Check each pre-filled number against AIS line items.

3. Not filing feedback because "the bank will fix it eventually"

Banks and brokers typically don't fix AIS errors proactively — they only respond to feedback submissions. If you don't file feedback, the wrong data sits in AIS and gets flagged in 143(1). The fix is procedural; do it pre-filing.

4. Filing late after a loss-only year, losing carry-forward

Even when no tax is owed (loss year), filing on time is required to preserve capital-loss carry-forward. The 31 July deadline is firm; late filing invalidates the carry-forward.

5. Foreign brokerage transactions absent from AIS — and then absent from filing

ETrade, Fidelity, and other foreign brokerages don't report to AIS. A common mistake: tech employees check AIS, see no foreign brokerage entries, and conclude no foreign-source income to report. Wrong — you must report foreign income on its own merits, and disclose the foreign asset in Schedule FA. Non-disclosure attracts Black Money Act penalties.

Where this connects

For the underlying capital gains computations: Capital Gains Tax in India for AY 2026-27. For RSU/ESOP-specific reporting (a frequent reconciliation friction point): ESOPs and RSUs in India. For the regime decision that drives many of the slab-tax fields you'll reconcile: Old vs New Tax Regime for AY 2026-27.

A note on freshness

The IT portal's AIS interface, TIS aggregation logic, and feedback flow have been updated multiple times since AIS was launched in 2021. The procedure described above reflects the current (FY 2025-26) flow. If the portal UI has changed by the time you read this, the principles still apply — locate the equivalent feature names and follow the same reconciliation logic.