You do not file Form No. 168.
It is automatically generated by the Income Tax Department and made available in your e-filing account. Your job is to review it, submit corrections if anything is wrong, and use it to verify your TDS credits before filing your ITR.
Quick summary: Form 26AS — the Annual Information Statement that shows your complete tax picture — is now Form No. 168 under the Income-tax Act, 2025 and I.T. Rules, 2026. It consolidates TDS/TCS credits, tax payments, SFT-reported financial transactions, demand and refund details, and proceedings information — all linked to your PAN. It is updated dynamically throughout the year and is your most important pre-ITR verification document.
📋 Quick Reference
Old Form NameForm 26AS (AIS)
New Form NameForm No. 168
Old RuleRule 114-I, I.T. Rules 1962
New RuleRule 245, I.T. Rules 2026
Old Act SectionSection 285BB, I.T. Act 1961
New Act SectionSection 510, I.T. Act 2025
Filed byNot filed — auto-generated by the Department
Companion StatementTIS (Taxpayer Information Summary)
1What is Form No. 168 — and What Does It Contain?
Form No. 168 is the Annual Information Statement (AIS) — a comprehensive, PAN-linked record of all tax-related and specified financial transactions pertaining to a taxpayer for a given Tax Year. It is compiled by the Income Tax Department from data submitted by employers, banks, mutual funds, registrars, brokers, and other reporting entities.
Think of it as the Department’s complete financial dossier on you — everything they know about your income, taxes, transactions, and compliance status for the year.
The form has two parts:
Part A — Personal Information: Name, date of birth/incorporation, address, PAN, email, and contact number of the taxpayer.
Part B — Nature of Information: This is the substantive section, divided into seven categories:
1
TDS / TCS Information
All tax deducted or collected at source — from salary, interest, rent, property, professional fees, dividends, and more. This is where your Form No. 130, 131, 132 data consolidates.
2
Specified Financial Transactions (SFT)
High-value financial transactions reported by banks, mutual funds, registrars, and other entities — property purchases, large cash deposits, mutual fund investments, credit card payments, and more.
3
Tax Payments
Advance tax and self-assessment tax paid by the taxpayer via challans. Verify these match your payment records before filing your ITR.
4
Demand & Refund
Outstanding tax demands raised by the Department for any Tax Year, and refunds initiated. Essential for understanding your current compliance status.
5
Pending Proceedings
Details of any income tax proceedings currently underway — assessment, scrutiny, or otherwise — linked to your PAN.
6
Completed Proceedings
Records of proceedings that have been concluded, including assessment orders, rectifications, and appeals decided.
7
Other Information
Additional data reported under Rule 245(2) — including salary details from Annexure II of Form No. 138, interest on refunds, dividend income, securities transactions, mutual fund transactions, and outward foreign remittances/purchase of foreign currency.
2AIS, TIS, and ITR — Understanding the Three-Layer System
Form No. 168 (AIS) works in conjunction with the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) to help you file an accurate ITR. Understanding how these three elements relate is essential.
Form No. 168 (AIS)
Detailed source data
Transaction-wise information from all reporting entities. Used for verification and correction.
TIS
Summarised reference
Category-wise totals (total salary, total interest, total capital gains, etc.) derived from AIS. Used as reference while filing ITR.
ITR
Final legal declaration
The return you file. Pre-filled from TIS data. You declare all actual income — even if some is missing from AIS.
AIS is the detailed data source, TIS is the summarised reference, and ITR is your final legal declaration. Always review AIS first, correct any errors, verify the updated TIS, and then file your ITR. This sequence prevents mismatch notices.
3Where Does the Data Come From?
🏢
Employers (TDS on Salary)Form No. 138 (erstwhile 24Q) filed quarterly — provides salary TDS data that reflects as “TDS by employer” in AIS.
🏦
Banks & Financial InstitutionsTDS on interest (Form No. 140), SFT reports on large deposits, fixed deposit interest, credit card spends, and cash transactions.
🏗️
Property RegistrarsSFT reports on immovable property purchases and sales above the prescribed threshold. Also linked to Form No. 141 (Schedule B) TDS data.
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Mutual Funds & Stock BrokersSFT reports on mutual fund purchases, redemptions, equity transactions, and dividend distributions.
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Tax Payment Challans (OLTAS)Online tax payments — advance tax, self-assessment tax, and regular assessment tax — flow directly from challan records.
⚖️
Assessment Units / Faceless Assessment CentresDemand notices, assessment orders, refund data, and proceedings information from CPC-ITR and Faceless Assessment.
4How to Access Form No. 168
1
Log in to the Income Tax e-Filing PortalVisit incometax.gov.in and log in using your PAN/Aadhaar and password.
2
Navigate to AISThree ways: (a) e-File → Income Tax Returns → View Annual Information Statement (AIS); or (b) click the AIS tab directly; or (c) AIS tile under Compliance Portal in Pending Actions.
3
Select the Tax YearChoose the relevant Tax Year (e.g., 2026-27). AIS is available for multiple years and is updated dynamically as new data comes in.
4
Review all categoriesGo through each category in Part B — TDS/TCS, SFT, tax payments, demand/refund, and other information. Compare each entry against your own records.
5
Check TIS for summary figuresClick the TIS tab on the same dashboard to see category-wise income and tax totals. These are the figures pre-filled into your ITR.
5What to Do if Information in Form No. 168 is Wrong
If any entry in your AIS is incorrect, duplicated, or does not belong to you, you must submit feedback through the portal. AIS is not editable directly — feedback triggers a review process.
🔧 How to Submit Feedback on an Incorrect AIS Entry
1
Log in to the e-Filing portal and open AIS
2
Select the specific transaction or entry that is incorrect
3
Click “Give Feedback” on that entry
4
Choose the appropriate reason: Incorrect, Duplicate, Not related to me, Income is not taxable, or Income is included in ITR
5
Submit your feedback — the Department processes it and updates TIS accordingly
TIS cannot be edited directly by the taxpayer. It updates automatically after the Department processes your AIS feedback. Always submit AIS corrections first, wait for TIS to update, and then file your ITR.
If an income is missing from AIS, you must still report it in your ITR. AIS is a verification tool — your legal obligation to disclose all income exists independently of what AIS shows.
6Why Form No. 168 Matters for ITR Filing
Use Case
How Form No. 168 Helps
Verifying TDS credits
All TDS deducted by employers, banks, tenants, and others reflects here. Reconcile against your Form No. 130 and 131 before claiming credit in ITR.
Pre-filled ITR accuracy
TIS data from Form No. 168 pre-fills your ITR. Correcting errors in AIS ensures your pre-filled return is accurate from the start.
Avoiding mismatch notices
The Department compares your ITR with AIS data. Discrepancies trigger scrutiny notices. A clean, reconciled AIS minimises this risk.
Checking advance tax payments
Verify that all challan payments (advance tax, self-assessment tax) are correctly reflected before computing your final tax liability.
Monitoring high-value transactions
SFT data in AIS tells you what the Department already knows about your financial activity — property purchases, large investments, foreign remittances.
7Key Changes from Form 26AS to Form No. 168
Form No. 168 carries forward the AIS framework introduced in 2021 largely unchanged. The update under the Income-tax Act, 2025 is primarily a renaming and terminology alignment exercise:
The main substantive change is the replacement of “Financial Year” with “Tax Year” in the header and throughout the form — consistent with the new Act’s unified terminology. Identification fields have been standardised, and minor formatting refinements improve readability and system integration. The core content and structure of the AIS remain the same.
8Frequently Asked Questions
No. Form No. 168 is auto-generated by the Income Tax Department and uploaded to your registered e-filing account. You do not file it — you review it, submit corrections if needed, and use it to verify your TDS credits and income data before filing your ITR.
This typically means your employer has either not filed Form No. 138 (erstwhile Form 24Q) for the relevant quarter, or it has been filed but not yet processed by CPC-TDS. Follow up with your employer to check the filing and processing status on TRACES. Until the TDS appears in Form No. 168, you can still file your ITR and claim TDS credit based on your Form No. 130 — but the Department will reconcile this when processing your return.
Select the transaction in AIS and submit feedback with the reason “Not related to me”. This could be a case of PAN misquoting by another party (e.g., a buyer incorrectly quoting your PAN instead of their own in Form No. 141). The Department will investigate. You should also consider informing the property registrar or the buyer/seller whose transaction this appears to belong to.
Form No. 168 is updated dynamically throughout the year as underlying TDS/TCS returns, SFT statements, and tax payment records are filed and processed. There is no fixed update frequency — it depends on when the respective deductors, banks, and reporting entities submit their statements to the Department.
Always report your actual income in the ITR — not the AIS amount. Submit feedback in AIS explaining the discrepancy (e.g., “Income is incorrect — actual amount is lower”). File your ITR with the correct figures. The Department may verify the discrepancy, but you are legally bound to declare the correct actual income, not what AIS shows.
View Form No. 168 on the e-Filing Portal
Form No. 168 is available in your registered e-filing account — no download needed. Access it directly at the Income Tax portal.
CA Final Student & Semi-Qualified Chartered Accountant
Ruban Jayakumar is a CA Final student and semi-qualified Chartered Accountant specializing in taxation, accounting, and finance. With over five years of experience in tax litigation before appellate forums, he works closely with businesses and individuals to simplify complex tax and compliance matters. Through TaxRoutine, he shares practical insights aimed at making taxation accessible and understandable for the general public.
Form 168Form 26ASAnnual Information StatementAISTISSection 510Rule 245Income-tax Act 2025TDS CreditITR Pre-fillSFTTaxpayer Information SummaryMismatch NoticeAIS Feedback
