Annual tax statement: Form 168 (formerly Form 26AS) and the Annual Information Statement

What do Form 168 and AIS contain?

Form 168 continues the role of Form 26AS: a consolidated statement of tax credits for a PAN. It lists TDS and TCS reported by deductors and collectors, advance tax and self-assessment tax paid, refunds, and certain demands. If tax deducted from your payment is not here, the department will not give you credit for it automatically.

The Annual Information Statement is a wider view, introduced in 2021. Alongside TDS, it shows information from statements of financial transactions filed by banks, mutual funds, registrars and others: interest, dividends, securities and property transactions, foreign remittances, and in some cases GST turnover. A short Taxpayer Information Summary aggregates the AIS by category.

Which statement for which year?

For returns of FY 2025-26, filed in 2026 under the 1961 Act, taxpayers relied on Form 26AS and the AIS. For tax year 2026-27, the statement is Form 168 under the Income-tax Rules 2026. On the portal, both continue to sit under the annual statement and AIS menus, so the practical change is mainly the name.

Commentaries note that the renumbering does not change what credits you can claim. Credit still follows what deductors and collectors report against your PAN, so the discipline of checking the statement before filing is unchanged.

For companies, the statement is also the starting point for claiming TDS credit in the return. Credit for TDS can generally be claimed only in the year in which the related income is offered to tax, so the statement must be read together with revenue recognition in the books.

Why companies should reconcile it monthly

Businesses receiving payments with TDS, such as service companies, contractors and landlords, often have hundreds of entries. Waiting until return time to reconcile leaves little time to get customers to correct their statements. A quarterly or monthly reconciliation catches missing PANs, wrong amounts and late filings while customers can still fix them.

Mismatches between the AIS and your return are a common trigger for automated adjustments, intimations and scrutiny selection. GST turnover shown in the AIS is compared with income-tax turnover, so differences should be explainable.

What to check

Download the statements in PDF or Excel format and work through them line by line against your books of account. Pay particular attention to these items, which cause most mismatches.

• TDS credits by deductor, compared with invoices and receipts in your books
• Entries marked as unmatched or with booking status issues
• Advance tax and self-assessment challans, with correct tax year and minor head
• Interest, dividend and securities entries, which often differ from book figures
• High-value transactions you do not recognise, which may indicate PAN misuse
• GST turnover compared with revenue recognised in the accounts

Fixing errors and consequences

If a TDS credit is missing or wrong, the deductor must file a correction statement; you cannot fix it yourself. For AIS entries, use the online feedback option to mark information as incorrect, duplicate or relating to another PAN or year. The reporting entity may be asked to confirm or modify it.

Claiming credit that is not in the statement leads to the claim being disallowed when the return is processed, with a demand and interest. Refogo's partner professionals can reconcile tax credits as part of return filing.

Step by step

1. 1Log in to the e-filing portal

   Use the PAN login of the business or individual.

2. 2Open the annual statement

   Go to the AIS menu or view the annual tax statement through TRACES.

3. 3Download for the year

   Select the tax year or assessment year and download the PDF or Excel file.

4. 4Reconcile with books

   Match TDS, TCS, tax paid and reported transactions with your records.

5. 5Raise corrections

   Ask deductors to correct statements and submit AIS feedback for wrong entries.