AIS Mismatch: The #1 Reason ₹15L+ Earners Get an ITR Notice
You file early, expect your refund in three weeks, and instead the portal drops a Section 143(1) intimation with a tax demand. Nine times out of ten the trigger isn't fraud — it's one number in your Annual Information Statement (AIS) that doesn't line up with what you typed into your ITR. For salaried professionals earning ₹15L+, the mismatches are almost always the same four, and every one of them is fixable before you hit submit for FY 2025-26 (the return due 31 July 2026).
Summary
| Mismatch | Why it hits high earners | Cost if ignored |
|---|---|---|
| Salary (two Form 16s) | Job switch — both employers give ₹75,000 SD + 80C | 143(1) demand on under-reported tax |
| ESOP / RSU perquisite | Counted in salary AND shown again in AIS/SFT | Tax on phantom double income |
| Capital gains | AIS shows sale value, not your purchase cost | Gain over-stated; refund cut |
| Dividend + FD interest | Spread across 4-5 banks and demat accounts | "Income escaping assessment" flag |
| High-value SFT entries | ₹10L+ deposits, ₹30L+ property auto-reported | Scrutiny under 143(2) |
Where the numbers break for ₹15L+ earners
Two Form 16s after a job switch
Switch jobs mid-year and both employers run payroll as if they're your only one. Each applies the ₹75,000 standard deduction, each gives you the full 80C of ₹1.5 lakh, and each computes slabs from zero. Result: roughly ₹75,000 of deduction and ₹1.5 lakh of 80C claimed twice, plus a slab benefit double-counted. Your AIS aggregates both salaries; your ITR must too. Action: add both Form 16 Part-B figures, apply the standard deduction and 80C once, and pay the shortfall as self-assessment tax before filing.
ESOP and RSU perquisites counted twice
The perquisite value on vesting already sits inside your salary in Form 16 Part B. But AIS frequently lists the same shares again under SFT or share transactions, making it look like fresh income. Don't add it twice. Action: confirm the perquisite is in your gross salary, then in AIS mark the duplicate share-credit entry as Information is duplicate so it stops inflating your computed income.
Capital gains: AIS shows the sale, not your cost
For FY 2025-26 the rates are now a single clean structure — short-term gains on listed equity under Section 111A at 20%, long-term under Section 112A at 12.5% on gains above the ₹1.25 lakh annual exemption. AIS reports your sale value from the broker but rarely your purchase cost, so the platform's pre-fill looks far larger than your real gain. Action: pull the broker's capital-gains statement, enter actual cost and gain, and keep it on file — you file the correct figure, not the AIS number.
Dividend and interest scattered across accounts
A ₹28L earner typically holds 4-5 bank relationships and two demat accounts. AIS sees every ₹3,000 dividend and every FD interest credit; most people remember only the big ones. Savings-account interest above ₹10,000 (80TTA), FD interest with no TDS, small dividends — all of it is reportable. Action: reconcile AIS interest and dividend totals against each bank and broker before filing, not after the notice.
The fix-or-substantiate decision tree
The single thing competitors miss: you are not legally required to match AIS if you can substantiate your own figure. AIS is a prompt, not gospel. So every mismatch splits two ways.
Fix it in AIS when the data itself is wrong — use the right feedback type:
- Information is correct — leave it; no action.
- Information is not fully correct — partly wrong, you know the right value.
- Information is not correct — the whole entry is wrong.
- Information is duplicate — the classic ESOP/FD double-count.
- Information relates to other PAN — joint accounts, a parent's FD.
- Information is denied — you don't recognise it at all.
The reporting entity (bank, broker, employer) then gets a window to respond, and your TIS updates if accepted.
Substantiate and file your number when AIS is incomplete rather than wrong — e.g. it shows a ₹6 lakh equity sale but not your ₹5.2 lakh cost. File the real ₹80,000 gain and keep the broker statement. If a Section 143(1) intimation lands, you respond with proof — far simpler than the notice you'd get for silently accepting a wrong, larger number. One trap worth flagging: the Section 87A rebate (up to ₹60,000 for income to ₹12 lakh under the new regime) does not apply to 111A/112A capital gains — so a "zero-tax" salary can still owe tax purely on gains.
Real example: Salaried, ₹28L CTC, Bengaluru, switched jobs in Oct 2025
| Item | Filed naively | After AIS reconciliation |
|---|---|---|
| Salary (both employers) | ₹26.0L (one Form 16) | ₹26.0L (both added) |
| Standard deduction | ₹1,50,000 (twice) | ₹75,000 (once) |
| LTCG declared | ₹0 (forgot broker) | ₹1.8L (₹55k taxable @12.5%) |
| Self-assessment tax due | ₹0 | ₹48,000 paid pre-filing |
| Outcome | 143(1) demand + interest | Clean processing, refund on time |
The naive filer pays the same ₹48,000 eventually — plus Section 234A/234B interest and the stress of a notice. The reconciled filer pays it once, before submitting.
What to do this week
- Download AIS, TIS and Form 26AS for FY 2025-26 from incometax.gov.in and reconcile each line against Form 16, broker statements and every bank account.
- For genuine errors, submit the correct AIS feedback type now — the reporting entity needs time to respond before 31 July.
- For incomplete entries (capital gains cost, etc.), compute the real number and save the supporting document; file your figure, not the pre-fill.
- Pay any shortfall as self-assessment tax before you file — clearing it pre-submission avoids a 143(1) demand and Section 234 interest.
File once, file clean
A 143(1) intimation isn't a scam allegation — it's an arithmetic mismatch the system caught. Reconcile AIS before you submit and you skip the demand, the Section 270A under-reporting exposure, and the months of follow-up. You still have a window to revise (now until 31 March under Budget 2026) and to file belated until 31 December 2026 — but the cheapest return is the one you get right the first time.
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