Pulling the inputs — Form 16, 26AS, AIS
In this chapter: What each document tells you and how to reconcile them · Spotting mismatches before they become a notice · Pre-filled returns — why you must still verify
Three documents drive your ITR-1: Form 16 (issued by your employer by mid-June, summarises salary paid and TDS deducted), Form 26AS (consolidated TDS/tax statement from the income-tax portal — shows all TDS reported on your PAN by every deductor), and AIS (Annual Information Statement — a comprehensive view including bank interest, dividends, mutual fund redemptions, large transactions). Reconcile all three before filing.
Common mismatches: bank-interest TDS appearing in 26AS but not declared by you; mutual-fund redemptions or dividends appearing in AIS that you forgot; rent paid (claimed as HRA) reported by your landlord in their tax filings creating a counterparty data point; share trades appearing as STCG/LTCG in AIS. A mismatch above ₹50,000 is almost certain to trigger a notice if you do not address it. The right workflow: download all three, tabulate side-by-side, and explicitly account for each line that hits 26AS or AIS.
AIS now includes a "feedback" mechanism — you can mark a reported transaction as "incorrect" or "duplicate", and it reflects in TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary). Use this proactively — for example, if your AIS shows a securities transaction but it was actually a transfer between your own accounts, mark it. Also, the pre-filled return on the portal pulls from 26AS and AIS but NOT from Form 16 directly — verify the pre-filled salary numbers against your Form 16, especially for joiners/leavers in the year.