Form 16 vs AIS vs 26AS: What Each Shows and How to Match

Form 16 tells you what your employer paid you and deducted as tax. Form 26AS shows the tax credits sitting against your PAN. The Annual Information Statement (AIS) lists almost everything the tax department knows about your income and transactions. Before filing, you need all three to agree. When they do not, the fix depends on which document is wrong, and this guide shows how to find it.

The three documents at a glance

As of October 2026, the Income-tax Act, 2025 and the Income-tax Rules, 2026 have renumbered the familiar forms. The content is broadly the same; the names change by tax year.

Key dates to keep straight:

• FY 2025-26 (returns filed in 2026): governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961. You received Form 16 and used Form 26AS.
• Tax year 2026-27 (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027): governed by the 2025 Act. Salary TDS is deducted under Section 392 (old Section 192), and the salary certificate is Form 130, issued under Section 395 (old Section 203). The first Form 130 must reach employees by 15 June 2027.

Form 16 / Form 130: your employer's version

The salary certificate has two broad halves. The first part lists your employer's TAN, your PAN, the period of employment and quarter-wise TDS deposited. The second part is the salary computation: gross salary, exempt allowances, standard deduction, deductions you declared (under the old regime) and the tax computed. Form 130 reorganises this into three parts with annexures, but the information you need is the same.

What Form 16 or Form 130 does not show is income your employer does not know about: savings and FD interest, dividends, capital gains, rent and freelance receipts. That is where most filing errors start.

If you changed jobs during the year, you will get one certificate from each employer. Each employer gives you the full standard deduction and may apply the lower slabs again, so the combined TDS is often too low. Add both salaries yourself and claim the standard deduction (₹75,000 in the new regime) only once.

Form 26AS / Form 168: the tax credit ledger

Form 26AS is the record that matters for credit. If TDS was deducted from your salary or FD interest but does not appear here, the department will generally not give you credit for it, even if you hold a certificate. Common reasons for a missing or short entry:

• The deductor quoted a wrong PAN or did not file its quarterly TDS return
• The deductor filed the return late, so the entry has not flowed through yet
• Tax was deducted but not deposited

The fix is always on the deductor's side: ask the employer or bank to file a correction statement. You cannot edit Form 26AS yourself.

AIS and TIS: the department's full picture

AIS pulls data from Statements of Financial Transactions filed by banks, mutual funds, registrars, brokers, property registrars and others, besides TDS and TCS data. It shows interest on savings accounts and FDs, dividends, sale of shares and mutual fund units, purchase of property, large cash deposits, foreign remittances and more.

The Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) condenses AIS into categories and gives a "derived value" that is used to prefill your return. If an AIS line is wrong or duplicated, the derived value is wrong too.

You can give feedback on any AIS entry on the e-filing portal (Services, then AIS). Options include marking information as correct, not fully correct, relating to another PAN or year, duplicate, or denied. Feedback that you mark as incorrect may be sent to the reporting entity for confirmation, so keep proof.

Worked example: reconciling before you file

Ananya, a salaried employee in the new regime, is filing for FY 2025-26. Her Form 16 shows gross salary of ₹14,00,000 and TDS of ₹86,000. Her AIS shows:

She had not planned to report the interest and dividends, which total ₹48,700 (₹38,000 + ₹6,200 + ₹4,500). Her taxable salary after the ₹75,000 standard deduction is ₹13,25,000, which falls in the 15% slab, and adding ₹48,700 keeps her in it. Illustrative effect of including the missed income:

• Extra tax: ₹48,700 × 15% = ₹7,305
• Cess at 4%: ₹7,305 × 4% = ₹292 (rounded)
• Extra tax including cess: ₹7,597
• Less TDS the bank already deducted: ₹3,800
• Additional tax she must pay before filing: ₹3,797

The redemption line in AIS is the sale value, not the gain. She downloads the capital gains statement from her registrar, finds a gain of ₹18,000 on an equity fund held over 12 months, and reports it. Because her long-term gains for the year are below ₹1.25 lakh, no tax arises on it, but the gain still has to be reported. See capital gains tax on mutual funds for the rules.

Common mismatches and how to fix them

A filing-day checklist

1. Download Form 26AS (or Form 168 for tax year 2026-27 onward), AIS and TIS from the e-filing portal.
2. Collect Form 16/130 from each employer and Form 16A/131 from banks if you need them.
3. Tick off every AIS line against your own records: payslips, bank statements, broker and mutual fund statements.
4. Confirm that every rupee of TDS you plan to claim appears in 26AS.
5. Give AIS feedback for wrong entries before filing, and keep screenshots.
6. Pay any balance tax as self-assessment tax, then file and e-verify.

You can estimate the balance using our income tax calculator. For the full list of papers to gather, use the ITR filing checklist. If you have already filed and later spot a missed item, our guide to a revised return explains the correction route.

When the employer gets it wrong

Sometimes Form 16 itself is the problem: an exemption you did not qualify for, HRA allowed without valid rent proof, or a deduction claimed under the old regime when you meant to choose the new one. You are not bound by the employer's computation. Your return can claim the regime and exemptions you are actually eligible for, as long as you have proof. Note that HRA and most deductions are available only under the old regime; see our HRA exemption rules for the conditions.

If the employer under-deducted TDS, the tax is still your liability. Pay the difference as self-assessment tax before filing. If the employer deducted TDS but did not deposit it, the department's own guidance has generally been that the deductor, not the employee, is pursued for the deposit, but expect correspondence and keep payslips showing the deduction.

Key takeaways

• Form 16 (Form 130 from tax year 2026-27) is the employer's view of your salary; it does not cover interest, dividends or capital gains.
• Form 26AS (moving to Form 168) decides how much TDS credit you get. Missing TDS must be corrected by the deductor.
• AIS is the widest record. Report every correct item and give feedback on wrong ones before filing.
• AIS shows mutual fund and share sale value, not gain. Use your capital gains statement.
• As of October 2026, salary TDS falls under Section 392 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (old Section 192). Form 16 still applies to FY 2025-26 salary.