Three Documents, One Truth: Form 16, 26AS, and AIS

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Imagine three people at a party describing the same evening. Your employer says “INR 12 lakh salary, no drama”. Your bank says “INR 45,000 FD interest, took TDS”. The tax department (via AIS) says “INR 12L salary, INR 45K FD interest, INR 8K mutual fund dividend, INR 1.2L rent received from tenant”. Suddenly you remember - you did rent out that spare room.

The three documents, explained once

Form 16is your employer's homework. Part A summarizes TDS deducted on your salary; Part B lists the full salary structure plus any deductions you declared to HR.

Form 26AS is a tax-credit statement. Every time anyone - employer, bank, tenant, broker - deducts TDS against your PAN, it shows up here. Download it from the Income Tax e-filing portal.

AIS(Annual Information Statement) is the government's panopticon. It aggregates everything reported against your PAN - interest, dividends, property transactions, large cash deposits, crypto transfers. It is the most comprehensive of the three.

Which one is authoritative?

For your salary: trust Form 16. For taxes already paid: trust 26AS. For overall income reported against you: trust AIS. When these disagree, AIS is usually ahead of the others - but not always correct. It is a signal to investigate, not a verdict.

Where things usually go wrong

The most common mismatches: missing bonus TDS (your employer filed late), missing bank FD interest (you forgot about an old FD), rental income (tenant deducted TDS under Section 194-IB), and mutual fund dividends (AMCs report to AIS even if they did not deduct TDS because the amount was small).

The Document Reconciler

Five realistic scenarios. Spot the mismatch, then reveal the fix.

The missing rent

Form 16

Salary INR 12,00,000

Form 26AS

TDS on salary INR 1,04,000

AIS

Salary INR 12,00,000 + Rent received INR 1,20,000 + Bank interest INR 45,000

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Do not ignore AIS errors

If AIS shows income you know you did not earn (wrong PAN tagged, duplicate entries), use the “submit feedback” option inside AIS to flag it before filing. Ignoring it can trigger a notice months later.