A dividend shows up in your AIS. Has tax on it already been paid?

Not necessarily — the AIS records information, and 26AS answers the tax question

Yes — an AIS entry means TDS was deducted

Yes, and it therefore need not go into your return

Your AIS shows interest from a joint account that is really your parent’s money. What is the sensible first move?

Submit feedback on the portal against that entry, before filing

Ignore it — the AIS is only informational

Pay tax on it anyway, to be safe

Lesson 3 of 3 · 6 min

26AS, AIS, and the mismatch drill

Three statements on the portal show what the department already knows about you. Reconciling them before you file costs far less than answering a notice later.

Before you file, the income tax portal lets you see yourself as the department sees you. Form 26AS lists the tax credited against your PAN. The AIS — Annual Information Statement — is much wider: interest, dividends, stock and mutual fund trades, and other reported transactions.

The TIS summarises the AIS into yearly totals. Filing without reading them is how a mismatch turns into a notice.

The three statements

Statement	What it holds	Use it to
Form 26AS	TDS, TCS and advance tax credited against your PAN	Verify every credit you plan to claim in the ITR
AIS	Transactions others reported about you — interest, dividends, securities trades, large payments	Catch income you forgot, and spot entries that are not yours
TIS	The AIS rolled up into category totals	Sanity-check the totals the portal pre-fills into your return

Myth

“If income shows up in my AIS, tax on it has already been paid.”

False

The AIS is a record of information, not of payment. A dividend or interest entry appears because the payer reported it — whether any TDS accompanied it is a separate question answered by Form 26AS. Plenty of AIS entries carry no tax at all and still belong in your return.

Put these in order

The pre-filing reconciliation drill. Put the moves in order.

Keep the proofs — statements, certificates, feedback receipts
File the ITR using the reconciled figures
Submit feedback on the portal for entries that are wrong or not yours
Match Form 16 and interest certificates against what the statements show
Log in to the income tax portal and download 26AS, AIS and TIS

Spot the scam · SMS

The refund that needs your 'verification'

Dear Taxpayer, your Income Tax refund of Rs. 16,490 has been approved. Your account details could not be verified. Update immediately at http://itr-refund-verify.in to receive credit within 24 hours.

Match them up

Six documents, six jobs

Pick a document, then pick what it actually does.

Pick a term on the left.

Check yourself

1 / 3

Kabir asks

Which statement proves tax was actually credited against your PAN?

Done reading?

Saved in this browser — and finishes the course.