Form 26AS, AIS and TIS Mismatch: Fix It Before Your ITR Is Rejected (AY 2026-27)
Every July, salaried taxpayers receive income tax demand notices — not for deliberate evasion, but because Form 26AS, the Annual Information Statement (AIS), and Form 16 told three different stories to the portal. The e-filing system auto-validates all three on submission. Discrepancies trigger Section 143(1) adjustments that quietly reduce your refund or create a demand notice.
With 31 days left before the July 31, 2026 deadline (FY 2025-26, AY 2026-27), this is exactly the right time to run this check. Employer 24Q revision — the fix for the most common mismatch — takes 10–15 days. Start late and you either file incorrectly or miss the deadline entirely.
Summary
| Document | Issued By | What It Shows | Time to Fix if Wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form 16 (Part A + B) | Employer via TRACES | TDS deducted, salary, deductions | 10–15 days (employer 24Q revision) |
| Form 26AS | Income Tax Dept | TDS actually credited to Govt against your PAN | 7–10 days after employer corrects 24Q |
| Annual Information Statement (AIS) | Income Tax Dept | All income: salary, interest, dividends, capital gains | 3–7 days after AIS feedback accepted |
| Tax Information Summary (TIS) | Income Tax Dept | AIS collapsed to totals — drives ITR pre-fill | Follows AIS correction |
What Each Document Actually Contains
Form 16 is auto-generated from your employer's quarterly TDS return (Form 24Q). Part B shows your salary, Section 80C/80D deductions, HRA exemption under Section 10(13A), and net taxable income. Employers must issue it by June 15. The risk: if your employer made a data entry error in any of the four quarters, Form 16 shows a figure that diverges from what actually reached the government.
Form 26AS (Section 203AA) is the tax department's own record of every rupee deposited against your PAN — from your employer, your bank (TDS on FD interest under Section 194A), your tenant if TDS applies under Section 194IB, and mutual fund houses. If your employer deposited ₹4.2 lakh but Form 16 shows ₹4.5 lakh, Form 26AS will show ₹4.2 lakh. File claiming ₹4.5 lakh TDS credit and the portal auto-adjusts your refund down by ₹30,000 under Section 143(1)(a).
AIS and TIS — the Annual Information Statement (Section 285BB) aggregates 47 sources: savings and FD interest, equity and mutual fund capital gains from broker filings, dividend income, and more. The Tax Information Summary (TIS) collapses AIS to category totals, and this is what the "Pre-fill ITR" button pulls. If your broker reported ₹45,000 in dividends but you received ₹38,200 (rest is a data error), TIS pre-fills ₹45,000 into your ITR unless you flag it first.
The 3-Way Reconciliation in 4 Steps
Step 1 — Download all three at once Form 26AS: IT portal → My Account → Form 26AS (or TRACES at tdscpc.gov.in). AIS: IT portal → Services → Annual Information Statement → Download Part A + B. Form 16 should already be with you.
Step 2 — Match Form 16 TDS to Form 26AS, quarter by quarter Open Form 26AS Part A. Find your employer's TAN. Compare each quarter's TDS to your payslips. Common mismatches:
- Q4 shortfall: Employer didn't deposit Q4 TDS (due May 7) before generating Form 16
- Wrong PAN: One transposed digit routes a quarter's TDS to a different taxpayer
- Mid-year job change: Two separate deductor TANs — confirm both are present and add up
Step 3 — Review AIS income entries against your own records In AIS Part B, flag any entry where "Reported Value" differs from your documentation:
- Capital gains: Compare to your broker's capital gains statement or Consolidated Account Statement. Verify STCG (Section 111A, 20%) and LTCG (Section 112A, 12.5% above ₹1.25 lakh) separately
- Dividend income: Cross-check against dividend warrants or broker statement
- FD interest: Banks sometimes double-report interest; confirm the net figure matches your FD passbook
Step 4 — Reconcile TIS before you open the ITR form If any TIS figure is higher than your verified income, submit AIS feedback first (Step 5 below), wait for the correction to reflect in TIS, then file. Filing with a lower figure than TIS without AIS correction flags your return automatically.
Real Example: Priya, ₹24L CTC, Pune, AY 2026-27
| Item | Form 16 | Form 26AS | AIS / TIS | Action Taken | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary TDS | ₹3.85 lakh | ₹3.62 lakh | ₹3.62 lakh | Employer filed revised 24Q | ₹23,000 demand avoided |
| FD interest | Not in Form 16 | ₹18,500 TDS | ₹1,85,000 income | Added to "Other Sources" in ITR | Correct — portal matched |
| Dividend income | Not in Form 16 | Not in 26AS | ₹42,800 (overreported) | AIS feedback → corrected to ₹38,200 | Pre-fill corrected before filing |
Without the 3-way check: ₹23,000 demand + missed FD income that the portal would have flagged + dividend under-reporting. With the check: full refund of ₹1.1 lakh processed in 12 days.
What a Mismatch Costs (The Penalty Math)
Section 143(1) processing is automatic. Here is what it costs for a ₹24L earner who files with a mismatch:
- Section 234B interest: 1% per month on unpaid tax if TDS + advance tax covered less than 90% of liability. A ₹23,000 shortfall over 3 months: roughly ₹690.
- Section 270A penalty for under-reporting: 50% of tax attributable to under-reported income. A ₹2 lakh capital gain omitted from ITR (because you skipped the AIS check) costs approximately ₹52,000 in additional tax + ₹26,000 in penalty — ₹78,000 total.
- Section 234F late filing: ₹5,000 if you miss July 31 (₹1,000 if income is under ₹5 lakh).
The 3-way reconciliation takes two to three hours. That is a reasonable price to avoid ₹78,000 in penalties.
Employer 24Q Revision: The Timeline That Matters
If Form 16 and Form 26AS differ, your employer filed incorrect data in their quarterly TDS return. The correction sequence:
- Email your employer's payroll or finance team with your Form 26AS Part A printout and the exact discrepancy by quarter — keep a paper trail
- Employer files a revised 24Q for the affected quarter (5–10 working days)
- TRACES accepts the revision and updates Form 26AS within 3–5 days
- Download the updated Form 26AS and confirm the corrected TDS reflects
- File ITR using the corrected figure
Total elapsed time: 10–15 days if the employer responds within 48 hours. Email by July 7 to have the correction back before July 31. If the employer cannot revise in time, file using the Form 26AS figure (the verified government record), not Form 16, and track the correction for the subsequent notice response.
How to Submit AIS Feedback
If AIS shows a higher income than you can verify — a wrong broker-reported gain, a duplicate dividend entry, FD interest that belongs to a joint account:
- IT portal → Services → Annual Information Statement
- Click the specific income entry → select Feedback
- Choose "Information is incorrect" or "Amount is incorrect"
- Enter your correct figure and a brief reason, then save
The department reviews and updates TIS within 3–7 days. Wait for TIS to reflect the correction before filing — the pre-fill still pulls the old figure until TIS updates.
What to Do This Week
- Download Form 26AS, AIS, and Form 16 in one sitting today — doing them on separate days risks version inconsistency
- Run the 4-step reconciliation above; log every discrepancy with rupee amounts in a spreadsheet
- Email your employer's payroll team by July 7 if any 24Q revision is needed — the correction window is tight
- Submit AIS feedback for overreported income by July 15 so TIS updates before you file
File Correctly, Not Just Fast
The e-filing portal's auto-processing has no margin for mismatches between what you claim and what 26AS and AIS say. The 3-way check is the single highest-return action in the ITR filing process — a few hours to eliminate the most common cause of refund delays, Section 143(1) demands, and unnecessary scrutiny.
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