Form 26AS, AIS & TIS for NRIs: Match Before You File
Form 26AS, AIS, and TIS are the income-tax department's own record of your Indian income and the TDS deducted. Reconciling them before you file is how NRIs avoid mismatch notices.
Before you enter a single number in your ITR, pull three documents: Form 26AS, the AIS, and the TIS. They are the tax department's view of your income and TDS — and filing figures that disagree with them is the fastest route to a notice. This is what each one is and how to reconcile them as an NRI.
Educational only — verify on the portal
- This is general information, not tax advice. Where and how these statements appear can change by year.
- Download the current versions from the official Income Tax portal and confirm specifics with a CA.
What each statement is
The three records
- Form 26AS — your tax-credit statement: TDS/TCS deducted against your PAN, advance/self-assessment tax, and certain high-value items.
- AIS (Annual Information Statement) — a wider view of reported financial information: interest, dividends, securities and mutual-fund transactions, property dealings, and more.
- TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary) — a simplified, category-wise summary derived from the AIS, showing processed values you can use as a starting point.
| Statement | Best for |
|---|---|
| Form 26AS | Confirming exactly how much TDS was deducted so you claim the full credit |
| AIS | Seeing all reported income — including items you may have forgotten |
| TIS | A quick category summary to sanity-check totals before filing |
Why this matters more for NRIs
As an NRI, much of your Indian income has TDS deducted at source — NRO interest, rent, dividends, and property sales. The TDS in Form 26AS is precisely what you'll claim back as a refund, so it must be captured in full. And because AIS now pulls in a wide net of transactions, an NRI who only remembers their NRO FD but forgets a small dividend or a mutual-fund redemption can easily file a mismatched return.
Reconcile, don't just copy
- Numbers in AIS are not always final — they can include duplicates or misclassified entries.
- You can submit feedback in the AIS to flag an entry that's wrong or already counted.
- Reconcile AIS/TIS against your own statements (bank, broker, rent records) and let any genuine discrepancy be corrected.
How to reconcile before filing
- Download all three — Form 26AS, AIS, and TIS for the relevant assessment year from the portal
- List your own income — from NRO/NRE statements, broker capital-gains reports, and rent records
- Match line by line — tie every AIS/26AS entry to something in your records, and vice versa
- Flag mismatches — submit AIS feedback for duplicates or misclassified items
- Capture all TDS — make sure every rupee of TDS in 26AS is claimed in your return
- File only when aligned — your ITR figures should reconcile to these statements
Common mismatch traps for NRIs
- A property-sale TDS entry that wasn't carried into the return.
- A dividend or interest line in AIS that was overlooked.
- TDS shown under the wrong year because of timing differences.
- Treating an AIS figure as final without checking it against your own records.
Questions to ask your CA
Bring these to your CA
- Does my return fully reconcile with Form 26AS, AIS, and TIS?
- Is there any AIS entry I should dispute via feedback?
- Have we claimed every TDS credit in 26AS so my refund is complete?
- Are any items showing in the wrong assessment year?
Ready to file?
Once your records reconcile, the pillar guide walks you through form selection, the documents, and the TDS-refund timeline.
- Pick your form: ITR-2 for NRIs · ITR-3 for NRIs
- Gather docs: NRI India tax documents checklist
- Related: NRE/NRO accounts · Indian income on a US return
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Form 26AS and AIS?
Form 26AS focuses on tax credits — the TDS/TCS deducted against your PAN and taxes paid. The AIS is broader, listing a wide range of reported financial transactions such as interest, dividends, and securities or property dealings. The TIS is a simplified summary of the AIS.
Why should NRIs check AIS and TIS before filing?
Because the tax department compares your return against these statements. Filing income or TDS figures that don't match is a leading cause of mismatch notices. Reconciling first lets you catch missed income and claim every TDS credit.
What if my AIS shows wrong information?
You can submit feedback in the AIS to flag an entry that is a duplicate, misclassified, or not yours. Reconcile against your own bank, broker, and rent records, and have genuine discrepancies corrected before filing.