What Form 26AS Contains
Form 26AS is divided into several parts. Part A shows TDS on salary and non-salary payments — each entry shows the deductor's name, TAN, amount paid, TDS deducted, and whether it has been deposited (status: F = Final, U = Unmatched, P = Provisional, O = Overbooked). Part B shows TCS (Tax Collected at Source) by sellers of specified goods. Part C shows advance tax and self-assessment tax paid directly by the taxpayer via Challan 280. Part D shows refunds received. Part E shows SFT (Statement of Financial Transactions) — high-value transactions reported by banks, mutual funds, registrars, and other specified entities.
SFT Transactions in Form 26AS
Under Section 285BA, specified entities must report high-value transactions to the Income Tax Department. These appear in Part E of Form 26AS. Examples include: cash deposits above ₹10 lakh in savings accounts in a year; purchase of bank drafts or pay orders above ₹10 lakh; credit card payments above ₹1 lakh (cash) or ₹10 lakh (other modes); purchase of mutual funds above ₹10 lakh; purchase of bonds or debentures above ₹10 lakh; purchase of shares above ₹10 lakh; purchase of immovable property above ₹30 lakh; and cash receipts in business above ₹50 lakh. These transactions are cross-referenced with your ITR to detect under-reporting.
Form 26AS vs AIS: What Changed
The Income Tax Department launched AIS (Annual Information Statement) in November 2021 as a more comprehensive replacement for Form 26AS. AIS includes all Form 26AS data plus salary details, interest income from all sources, dividend income, securities transaction data (buy/sell of stocks and mutual funds), foreign remittances, and GST turnover. Form 26AS continues to exist but is being phased down — the IT portal now prominently shows AIS. For ITR filing, you should review both Form 26AS (for TDS credit verification) and AIS (for complete income reconciliation).
Using Form 26AS for ITR Filing
Before filing your ITR, download Form 26AS and verify: (1) all TDS entries match your Form 16 and Form 16A certificates; (2) advance tax and self-assessment tax challans are correctly reflected; (3) no unexpected SFT entries that need to be explained. The IT portal pre-fills TDS data from Form 26AS into your ITR. If any TDS entry shows status "U" (Unmatched) or "P" (Provisional), it means the deductor has not filed their TDS return correctly — you cannot claim that TDS credit until it is corrected.