Income Tax

Income Tax Department Launches the “AIS for Taxpayer” Mobile App

On 22.03.23, the Income Tax Department issued a press release launching the “AIS for Taxpayer” mobile app as an initiative to provide enhanced taxpayer services facilitating ease of compliance. The present article shall discuss the meaning, objectives and components of AIS, its difference from Form 26AS along with the mobile app launched by the department and the procedure for registering and logging in to the same.

Meaning of AIS

AIS is an acronym for Annual Information Statement, which provides a comprehensive view of information for a taxpayer/assessee displayed in Form 26AS.  Assessees can also provide feedback on the information displayed in AIS. AIS showcases both reported value and modified value (i.e. the value after considering taxpayer feedback) under each section (i.e. TDS, SFT, and Other information).

Objectives of AIS

The objectives of AIS are discussed below –

• Displaying  complete information to the taxpayer with a facility  of capturing online feedback
• Promoting  voluntary compliance and enabling  seamless pre-filling of return
• Deterring non-compliance

Components of AIS

The information which is reflected in the Annual Information System is divided into 2 parts. 

PART A- General Information

This part displays general information regarding the assessee, including PAN, Masked Aadhar Number, Name of the Assessee, Date of Birth/ Incorporation/ Formation, mobile number, e-mail ID and address of the assessee.

PART- B

 This part showcases the TDS/TCS Information:  such as the information regarding tax deducted/collected at the source. The Information code of the TCS/TDS, Information Description and Information value are also displayed.

SFT Information

Under this head, information received from reporting entities under Statement of Financial transaction (SFT) is shown. The SFT code, Information Description and Information value are made available.

Payment of Taxes

 Information regarding the payment of taxes under different heads, such as Advance Tax and Self-Assessment Tax, is shown. 

Demand and Refund:

 The assessee shall be able to view the details of the Demand raised and refund initiated (AY and amount) during an FY.

Other Information

Details of the information received from the other sources,  like data regarding salary, Interest on refund, Outward Foreign Remittance/Purchase of Foreign Currency etc., are displayed here.

Difference between AIS and Form 26AS

AIS is the extension of Form 26AS. Form 26AS  shows details of property purchases, high-value investments, and TDS/TCS transactions that took place during the FY. AIS additionally includes dividends,  savings account interest rent received, purchase and sale transactions of securities/immovable properties, foreign remittances, interest on deposits, GST turnover etc. 

AIS also provides the taxpayer with the option of giving feedback on the transactions reported. Further, the aggregation of transactions on the information source level is also reported in TIS.

The income Tax Department Launches the “AIS for Taxpayer” Mobile App

The IT  Department has launched a Mobile app, by the name ‘AIS for Taxpayer’, for facilitating the taxpayers to view their information as available in the AIS/TIS.  The mobile application  is provided  free of cost by the Income Tax Department and is available on the App Store and Google Play

The app aims to provide a comprehensive view of the AIS/TIS to the taxpayer, which reflects the information collected from various sources with respect to the assessee/  taxpayer.

Taxpayers can make use of the mobile app to view their information related to TDS/TCS, dividends,  interest, tax payments,  share transactions, Income Tax refunds, and Other Information  Foreign Remittances, GST Data,  etc.) as available in TIS/AIS.

The taxpayer/ assessee also has the option and the facility of providing feedback on the information displayed in the app.

 For accessing the mobile app, the taxpayer is required to register on the app by providing the requisite details and following the prescribed procedure.

Procedure for Downloading the AIS for Taxpayer

The taxpayer should register on the app by entering the details such as  PAN number and authenticate using the OTP issued to their registered email and mobile number on the e-filing portal for accessing this mobile app. Upon the completion of the authentication, the taxpayer can easily create a 4-digit PIN to use the mobile app.

As per the Income-tax website, “Form 26 AS display only TDS/TCS data from AY 2023-24 onwards, other taxes like, Self-assessment tax, advance tax  refund etc., will  be available in AIS (Annual information statement).”

Procedure for Registering and setting MPIN for AIS for Taxpayer Mobile App

The procedure for registering and setting MPIN is elaborated below –

• The taxpayer should be registered on the e-filing portal to register on AIS mobile application.
•  The taxpayer must  download the ‘AIS for Taxpayer from Google Play or Apple  Store
• The Onboarding screens shall be visible to the user from where the user can scroll through by tapping “Next” or skip the screens by tapping “Skip”.
• The user must click on “Get Started” tab, available on the last onboarding screen.
• In order to start the verification process, the user must enter their PAN number and the date of birth/incorporation/formation and check the box next to the terms and conditions.
• The user is required to enter the primary mobile number and primary email ID.
• After entering the mobile number and the email id, the user must confirm the same by clicking on the confirm button that shall pop up after the user enters mobile number and email id.
• The user shall receive separate OTPs on the mobile number and the email, and he must enter both the OTPs correctly  and click on Verify for the verification  of the mobile number and email id 
• After entering the OTPs correctly and the requisite verification, the MPIN set-up page shall be displayed, after which the user must enter the MPIN and click on Next.
• It must be noted that the user shall have just 5 attempts for correctly entering the OTPs and if the user fails to enter the correctly OTP in the given attempts, the user’s account shall be blocked for 24hrs. For avoiding account locking, the user can use forgot MPIN to reset the MPIN 
• After entering the MPIN, the user must click on the confirm button in order to confirm the setup of the MPIN.
• Upon successfully setting up the MPIN, the user shall be registered, after which the user can log in using the selected MPIN.

Procedure for logging in to view AIS on mobile

The taxpayer must follow the below-mentioned procedure for logging in to view AIS mobile app.

• Users can log in by entering the self-selected MPIN, which had been created earlier during registration.
• The user shall be successfully logged in to the AIS Mobile Application.
• The user is should tap on the AIS tile for viewing the AIS and TIS. A disclaimer pop-up appears wherein the user must Click on “Ok.”
• After this, the user must select the Financial year from the tab (Present above the AIS Section) for which the AIS is viewed.
• Finally, the user would be able to view Annual Information Statement (AIS) section to view AIS details.

Conclusion

The Government has incorporated technology into the tax system with the intention of widening the tax base.  The mobile can be considered an effective step for curbing tax evasion. Mobile is convenient to use and handy. The assessee may find it difficult to log into the portal and find details in AIS. Therefore, Govt has launched a mobile app to provide every taxpayer with a handy summary of his significant financial transactions and which can enable timely tax payments and quick financial decision-making.

Also Read: Access to an Annual Information Statement (AIS) can help taxpayers in the tax filing

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