Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Reportable Transactions: Income Tax Act 2025 Guide

The Annual Information Statement (AIS) is a report the tax department uploads to your e-filing account. It collects what the department already knows about you: tax deducted at source, specified financial transactions, taxes paid, refunds, demands and proceedings. It is issued in Form No. 168 under section 510 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 and rule 245. The information comes largely from banks, registrars, companies and others who must report specified transactions in Form No. 165 under section 508 and rule 237(2), by 31 May after the financial year. Interest, dividends and capital gains on listed securities are reported separately under rule 237(6).

This guide explains who reports what, the value limits that trigger reporting, how fast the information reaches your AIS, and what the Act says about errors. Every figure is taken from the Act (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) and the Income-tax Rules, 2026, with the section or rule number next to it. Last reviewed against that text on 10 November 2026.

What is the Annual Information Statement under the Income Tax Act 2025?

Section 510(1) says the prescribed income-tax authority, or a person it authorises, must upload an annual information statement in the registered account of the assessee. Section 510(2) defines the registered account as the electronic filing account the assessee has registered on the web portal designated by the authority.

Rule 245(1) prescribes Form No. 168 and lists what goes into it:

• tax deducted or collected at source;
• specified financial transactions;
• payment of taxes;
• demand and refund;
• pending proceedings;
• completed proceedings; and
• any other information authorised under rule 245(2).

Rule 245(2) lets the Board authorise uploading of information received from any officer, authority or body under any law in force, information received under an agreement with another country referred to in section 159, or information from any other person, to the extent it considers fit in the interest of the revenue. In plain terms, the AIS can carry more than the six heads above.

How does information reach your AIS?

Two clocks run in this chain. The reporting person has until 31 May after the financial year to file Form 165 (rule 237(5)). The department, once it receives information, must upload it to your AIS within ninety days from the end of the month in which it is received (rule 245(1)). The AIS is a record of what others reported and what the department holds.

Who must report a specified financial transaction under section 508?

Section 508(1) places the duty on a person who is responsible for registering, or maintaining books of account or other documents with a record of, a specified financial transaction or reportable account. The listed persons are:

• an assessee;
• the prescribed person in an office of Government;
• a local authority or other public body or association;
• the Registrar or Sub-Registrar under section 6 of the Registration Act, 1908;
• the registering authority for motor vehicles under Chapter IV of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988;
• the Director General referred to in section 2(a) of the Post Office Act, 2023;
• the Collector referred to in section 3(g) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013;
• a recognised stock exchange;
• an officer of the Reserve Bank of India;
• a depository;
• a prescribed reporting financial institution; and
• any other person who may be prescribed.

Section 508(3) defines a specified financial transaction as a transaction of purchase, sale or exchange of goods, property or an interest in property; for rendering a service; under a works contract; by way of an investment made or an expenditure incurred; or for taking or accepting a loan or deposit, in each case as prescribed. Section 508(4) lets the Board prescribe different values for different transactions and persons.

Which transactions are reportable, and above what limit? (rule 237)

Rule 237(2) fixes the nature of transaction, the value, and the class of reporting person. The table below summarises it. "With PAN" and "without PAN" refer to the person whose transaction it is.

Sl. No.	Transaction	Limit in a financial year	Who reports
1(a)	Cash payment for bank drafts, pay orders, banker's cheques	Rs 10,00,000 or more (with PAN); Rs 5,00,000 or more (without PAN)	Bank
1(b)	Payment for RBI-issued pre-paid instruments (cash or otherwise)	Rs 10,00,000 or more	Bank
1(c)	Cash deposits or withdrawals in current accounts	Rs 50,00,000 or more (tested separately for deposits and withdrawals)	Bank
2	Cash deposits in accounts other than current accounts and time deposits	Rs 10,00,000 or more (with PAN); Rs 5,00,000 or more (without PAN)	Bank, post office
3	Time deposits (not renewals)	Rs 10,00,000 or more	Bank, post office, Nidhi, deposit-taking NBFC
4	Credit card bill payments	Rs 1,00,000 or more in cash; or Rs 10,00,000 or more by any other mode	Bank or card-issuing company
5	Receipt for bonds or debentures (not renewals)	Rs 10,00,000 or more	Issuing company or institution
6	Receipt for shares, including application money	Rs 10,00,000 or more	Company issuing shares
7	Buy-back of shares (other than open market)	Rs 10,00,000 or more	Listed company
8	Receipt for sale of foreign currency	Rs 10,00,000 or more (with PAN); Rs 5,00,000 or more (without PAN)	Authorised person under FEMA
9	Purchase, sale, gift or joint development agreement of immovable property	Amount, or stamp duty value under section 2(105), of Rs 45,00,000 or more	Inspector-General of Registration, Registrar or Sub-Registrar
10	Purchase of stamp paper	Rs 2,00,000 or more in one transaction (with PAN); Rs 1,00,000 or more (without PAN)	Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited
11	Insurance premium receipts	Rs 5,00,000 or more (with PAN); Rs 2,50,000 or more (without PAN)	Insurer
12	Cash receipt for sale of goods or services (other than Sl. Nos. 1 to 11)	Exceeding Rs 2,00,000	Any person liable for audit under section 63

For rows other than 9, 10 and 12, rule 237(3) says the reporting person must (a) take into account all accounts of the same nature held by that person in the year, (b) add up all transactions of the same nature, (c) attribute the whole value to every holder when an account is joint, and (d) apply the Rs 50,00,000 limit in row 1(c) separately to deposits and withdrawals.

Rule 237(6) adds a second set for the pre-filing of returns. Stock exchanges, depositories, clearing corporations and registrars or transfer agents report all capital gains on transfer of listed securities or Mutual Fund units. Companies report all dividends distributed. Banks, post offices and deposit-taking NBFCs report all interest paid or credited. The form, frequency and manner for these are set by the Principal Director General of Income Tax (Systems) or the Director General (Systems), with Board approval. No value limit applies.

How do the limits work? Two worked examples

Example 1: cash deposits across savings accounts (financial year 2026-27). Assume Meena has a PAN and holds three savings accounts at the same bank. No current account or time deposit is involved.

Step	Working	Result
1. Cash deposited in Account A	Rs 4,20,000	Rs 4,20,000
2. Cash deposited in Account B	Rs 3,80,000	Rs 3,80,000
3. Cash deposited in Account C	Rs 2,50,000	Rs 2,50,000
4. Aggregate (rule 237(3)(a), (b))	4,20,000 + 3,80,000 + 2,50,000	Rs 10,50,000
5. Limit, Sl. No. 2, with PAN	Rs 10,00,000 or more	Met. Bank reports in Form 165

No single account crossed Rs 10,00,000, but the bank must aggregate them. If the same deposits had been made by a person without a PAN, the limit would have been Rs 5,00,000, and Accounts A and B together (Rs 8,00,000) would already have crossed it.

Example 2: credit card payments (financial year 2026-27). Assume Ravi pays his credit card bills as follows. The cash and non-cash limits in Sl. No. 4 are separate tests.

Step	Working	Result
1. Bill payments in cash (two payments)	Rs 60,000 + Rs 50,000	Rs 1,10,000
2. Cash limit, Sl. No. 4(i)	Rs 1,00,000 or more	Met
3. Bill payments by any other mode (UPI, net banking, cheque)	Rs 7,50,000 + Rs 2,00,000	Rs 9,50,000
4. Non-cash limit, Sl. No. 4(ii)	Rs 10,00,000 or more	Not met, Rs 50,000 short

The cash limit in Sl. No. 4(i) is met, so the card issuer reports in Form 165. The Rs 9,50,000 paid by other modes is below the Rs 10,00,000 test in Sl. No. 4(ii) on its own.

Real-life examples

Meena sells a flat. Meena sells a flat in a year when the stamp duty value is Rs 62,00,000. That is above the Rs 45,00,000 limit in Sl. No. 9, so the Registrar or Sub-Registrar reports it in Form 165. It will show up in her AIS. If she forgets the sale while filing her return, the mismatch is visible from the AIS side.

Ravi's AIS shows interest he did not count. Ravi keeps a small recurring deposit and a savings account in two banks and assumes the interest is too small to matter. Under rule 237(6), banks report interest paid or credited with no value limit. Ravi finds both amounts in his AIS and adds them to income from other sources.

A trader with cash sales. Suresh runs a shop whose accounts are liable for audit under section 63. He receives Rs 3,40,000 in cash for goods in a financial year. Under Sl. No. 12, since the amount exceeds Rs 2,00,000, he must furnish a statement in Form 165 himself. Reporting persons under this row are ordinary taxpayers, not only banks.

How fast does information reach your AIS? A dated example

Rule 245(1) counts ninety days from the end of the month in which the department receives the information. Assume the department receives a bank's interest data on 12 June 2027.

1. The end of the month of receipt is 30 June 2027.
2. Counting 90 days from 30 June: 31 days in July (to 31 July), 31 days in August (to 31 August, 62 days), and 28 days in September (to 28 September, 90 days).
3. The upload deadline is 28 September 2027.

The Act and the Rules do not tell you to check your AIS before you file. In practice, many people compare the AIS with their records before filing so that their return does not contradict reported data. See our guide to return filing and due dates for the filing side.

What happens if the reporting statement has a defect or is not filed?

Section 508 sets a correction procedure for the reporting person. It does not give you a dispute process, so the consequences below fall on the person filing Form 165.

Situation	What the Act says	Time
Defect found in the statement	The authority may intimate the defect; the filer rectifies it (section 508(5))	30 days from the intimation; may be extended on application
Defect not rectified	The Act applies as if the filer had furnished inaccurate information (section 508(6))	After the 30 days or extended period
Statement not furnished on time	Authority may serve a notice requiring it (section 508(7))	Furnish within a period not exceeding 30 days from service of the notice
Filer finds an inaccuracy after furnishing	Must inform the authority and furnish correct information (section 508(8))	Within 10 days of becoming aware

Section 508(9) lets the Central Government prescribe by rules which persons must register with the income-tax authority, the information they maintain, and the due diligence to identify any reportable account. Rule 237(7) already requires every reporting person to communicate the name, designation, address and telephone number of the Designated Director and the Principal Officer to the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) and obtain a registration number. Rule 237(8) says the Designated Director signs, verifies and furnishes the statement, or a power-of-attorney holder where the reporting person is a non-resident.

What should you do if your AIS shows something wrong?

The Act and Rules covered here do not set out a procedure for an assessee to dispute an AIS entry. Section 508(8) obliges the reporting person to correct an inaccuracy they discover. So the practical route is to ask the bank, registrar, company or other reporter to correct its statement, and to keep documents that show the correct figure. For anything beyond that, check the procedure on the e-filing portal; this article does not cover it.

Common mistakes

• Treating the AIS as the full list of reportable items. Rule 245(1) lists what the AIS contains, but income that nobody reports is still income for the return.
• Ignoring items below the limit. Interest, dividends and capital gains on listed securities and Mutual Fund units are reported with no value limit under rule 237(6).
• Testing each account separately. Rule 237(3) aggregates accounts of the same nature, so three accounts below Rs 10,00,000 can still cross the limit together.
• Forgetting the no-PAN thresholds. For several rows the limit is lower (for example, half in Sl. Nos. 1(a), 2, 8, 10 and 11). See our note on when PAN is mandatory.
• Missing that a joint account counts fully for each holder. Rule 237(3)(c) attributes the whole value to every person on the account.
• Overlooking your own reporting duty. A person liable for audit under section 63 who receives cash above Rs 2,00,000 for goods or services falls under Sl. No. 12.

Quick reference

Item	Rule	Where
AIS form	Form No. 168	Rule 245(1)
Upload deadline for the department	90 days from the end of the month of receipt	Rule 245(1)
Reporting form	Form No. 165	Rule 237(1)
Due date for Form 165	31 May after the financial year	Rule 237(5)
Rectify a defect	30 days from intimation	Section 508(5)
Reply to a notice for a missing statement	Within 30 days of service	Section 508(7)
Report an inaccuracy found later	10 days	Section 508(8)

Where this is in the Act

• Section 508: obligation to furnish a statement of financial transaction or reportable account.
• Section 510: annual information statement and the meaning of registered account.
• Rule 237: Form No. 165, the Table of reportable transactions, aggregation, due date, Designated Director.
• Rule 245: Form No. 168 and what the AIS contains.

For a CA firm, the AIS is a checklist item for every client before a return is filed. Finexo's practice management software tracks that work per client and per tax year, so you can see which returns are waiting on a check of the AIS against the books. It does not fetch the AIS or file returns for you.

This article is general information on the law as amended by the Finance Act, 2026, and is not tax advice. See also our guide to TDS on rent, one of the sources of TDS data that appears in the AIS.