The notice says an amount 'appears in your AIS' and proposes to add it. What is the AIS in law, and does an entry in it prove anything?
Section 285BB requires the prescribed income-tax authority to UPLOAD, in the assessee's registered account, an annual information statement containing information which is in the possession of an income-tax authority, in the prescribed form and manner. That is the whole of the section: it is a disclosure obligation on the department, not a charging provision, not a deeming provision and not an evidentiary one. Rule 114-I lists the six heads of information that go into it and prescribes Form No. 26AS.
Decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) on 2020-06-01, reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.285BB, inserted by Act No. 12 of 2020 with effect from 1 June 2020; Income-tax Rules 1962, rule 114-I and Form No. 26AS. It bears on section 285BB, section 285BA, section 285BA(4), section 285BA(6), section 133(6), section 90, section 90A of the Income Tax Act 1961, in Assessment & Scrutiny, Evidence & Burden of Proof, Reassessment & Reopening and How Tax Law Is Read matters.
Almost every additions-from-AIS notice rests on a category error, and the section is the answer to it. Section 285BB creates no obligation on the assessee at all — it is addressed to 'the prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by such authority', and its only verb is 'shall upload'. Nothing in it makes an entry income, makes it correct, or shifts any burden. The information in it is, by rule 114-I(1), information already 'in his possession', drawn from the six listed heads — tax deducted or collected at source, specified financial transactions, payment of taxes, demand and refund, pending proceedings and completed proceedings — and rule 114-I(2) allows the Board to authorise the addition of information received from any other officer, authority or body, from an exchange of information under section 90 or section 90A, or from any other person. Every one of those is somebody else's report, filed by a reporting person under section 285BA and rule 114E, and every one of them can be wrong: the wrong PAN can be tagged to the right transaction, an entry can be duplicated, a joint holding can be attributed in full to one holder. The correction route runs through the reporting entity, because the reporting entity is the only person who can amend what it filed; section 285BA(6) obliges it to inform the authority of an inaccuracy within ten days of discovering it, and section 285BA(4) lets the prescribed authority intimate a defect and require rectification. That is why the practical answer to a wrong AIS entry is feedback plus a corrected statement from the reporting entity, not an explanation to the Assessing Officer. Note one point of vocabulary that matters in an appeal: rule 114-I, as it stands, prescribes Form No. 26AS for the statement it describes. The 'Annual Information Statement' the taxpayer sees on the compliance portal, with its feedback options and its Taxpayer Information Summary, is administered under departmental procedure and is not described in the rule as I read it. Do not assume that everything shown on the portal is the statutory statement.
Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them.
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Section 285BB provides that the prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by such authority shall upload in the registered account of the assessee an annual information statement in such form and manner, within such time and along with such information, which is in the possession of an income-tax authority, as may be prescribed. Its Explanation defines 'registered account' as the electronic filing account registered by the assessee in the designated portal, that is, the web portal designated as such by the prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by such authority. Rule 114-I(1) provides that the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or any person authorised by him shall, under section 285BB, upload in the registered account of the assessee an annual information statement in Form No. 26AS containing the information specified in the table below it, which is in his possession, within three months from the end of the month in which the information is received by him. The six heads in that table are information relating to tax deducted or collected at source; information relating to specified financial transaction; information relating to payment of taxes; information relating to demand and refund; information relating to pending proceedings; and information relating to completed proceedings. Rule 114-I(2) provides that the Board may also authorise those officers to upload in the annual information statement information received from any officer, authority or body performing any function under any law, or information received under an agreement referred to in section 90 or section 90A, or information received from any other person, to the extent it may deem fit in the interest of the revenue. Rule 114-I(3) leaves the procedures, formats and standards for uploading to the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems).
Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory and subordinate legislative text. Section 285BB imposes a duty on the prescribed income-tax authority to upload information already in the possession of an income-tax authority into the assessee's registered account. It imposes no obligation on the assessee, creates no charge, deems nothing to be income and attaches no evidentiary consequence to an entry. Rule 114-I confines the statement to six heads of information plus whatever the Board authorises under sub-rule (2), and prescribes Form No. 26AS.
The section is one sentence and its grammar decides the question. The subject is the prescribed income-tax authority; the verb is 'shall upload'; the object is an annual information statement; and the content is 'such information, which is in the possession of an income-tax authority, as may be prescribed'. There is no addressee other than the authority, no consequence attached to the contents, and no provision corresponding to, say, section 68 or section 69A that turns an unexplained entry into income. The rule then narrows rather than widens: sub-rule (1) admits six categories, each of which is a record of something the department has been told by somebody else — a deductor's or collector's statement, a reporting person's statement of financial transactions under section 285BA, a challan, the department's own demand and refund records, and its own proceedings — and sub-rule (2) adds information received from other authorities, from treaty partners under section 90 or section 90A, or from any other person. Every category is second-hand by design, which is why the machinery for correcting it sits in section 285BA rather than in section 285BB: sub-section (4) allows the prescribed authority to intimate a defect to the reporting person and require rectification within thirty days, and sub-section (6) requires the reporting person who discovers an inaccuracy to inform the authority within ten days and furnish the correct information. The person who must fix a wrong entry is therefore the person who filed it, not the person it names.
285BB. The prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by such authority shall upload in the registered account of the assessee an annual information statement in such form and manner, within such time and alongwith such information, which is in the possession of an income-tax authority, as may be prescribed.
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Handle my notice → Ask a CA on WhatsAppSection 285BB requires the prescribed income-tax authority to UPLOAD, in the assessee's registered account, an annual information statement containing information which is in the possession of an income-tax authority, in the prescribed form and manner. That is the whole of the section: it is a disclosure obligation on the department, not a charging provision, not a deeming provision and not an evidentiary one. Rule 114-I lists the six heads of information that go into it and prescribes Form No. 26AS. This was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) and bears on section 285BB, section 285BA, section 285BA(4), section 285BA(6), section 133(6), section 90, section 90A of the Income Tax Act 1961. It is reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.285BB, inserted by Act No. 12 of 2020 with effect from 1 June 2020; Income-tax Rules 1962, rule 114-I and Form No. 26AS. Almost every additions-from-AIS notice rests on a category error, and the section is the answer to it. Section 285BB creates no obligation on the assessee at all — it is addressed to 'the prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by such authority', and its only verb is 'shall upload'. Nothing in it makes an entry income, makes it correct, or shifts any burden. The information in it is, by rule 114-I(1), information already 'in his possession', drawn from the six listed heads — tax deducted or collected at source, specified financial transactions, payment of taxes, demand and refund, pending proceedings and completed proceedings — and rule 114-I(2) allows the Board to authorise the addition of information received from any other officer, authority or body, from an exchange of information under section 90 or section 90A, or from any other person. Every one of those is somebody else's report, filed by a reporting person under section 285BA and rule 114E, and every one of them can be wrong: the wrong PAN can be tagged to the right transaction, an entry can be duplicated, a joint holding can be attributed in full to one holder. The correction route runs through the reporting entity, because the reporting entity is the only person who can amend what it filed; section 285BA(6) obliges it to inform the authority of an inaccuracy within ten days of discovering it, and section 285BA(4) lets the prescribed authority intimate a defect and require rectification. That is why the practical answer to a wrong AIS entry is feedback plus a corrected statement from the reporting entity, not an explanation to the Assessing Officer. Note one point of vocabulary that matters in an appeal: rule 114-I, as it stands, prescribes Form No. 26AS for the statement it describes. The 'Annual Information Statement' the taxpayer sees on the compliance portal, with its feedback options and its Taxpayer Information Summary, is administered under departmental procedure and is not described in the rule as I read it. Do not assume that everything shown on the portal is the statutory statement. If it applies to you, the first step is this: Start any reply by putting the section in front of the officer: s.285BB obliges the authority to upload information in its possession and does no more. Ask on what provision the addition is said to rest, because it cannot rest on s.285BB.
Section 285BB provides that the prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by such authority shall upload in the registered account of the assessee an annual information statement in such form and manner, within such time and along with such information, which is in the possession of an income-tax authority, as may be prescribed. Its Explanation defines 'registered account' as the electronic filing account registered by the assessee in the designated portal, that is, the web portal designated as such by the prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by such authority. Rule 114-I(1) provides that the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or any person authorised by him shall, under section 285BB, upload in the registered account of the assessee an annual information statement in Form No. 26AS containing the information specified in the table below it, which is in his possession, within three months from the end of the month in which the information is received by him. The six heads in that table are information relating to tax deducted or collected at source; information relating to specified financial transaction; information relating to payment of taxes; information relating to demand and refund; information relating to pending proceedings; and information relating to completed proceedings. Rule 114-I(2) provides that the Board may also authorise those officers to upload in the annual information statement information received from any officer, authority or body performing any function under any law, or information received under an agreement referred to in section 90 or section 90A, or information received from any other person, to the extent it may deem fit in the interest of the revenue. Rule 114-I(3) leaves the procedures, formats and standards for uploading to the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems). The matter was decided on 2020-06-01 by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text). On those facts the CBDT Circulars & Instructions held as follows. Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory and subordinate legislative text. Section 285BB imposes a duty on the prescribed income-tax authority to upload information already in the possession of an income-tax authority into the assessee's registered account. It imposes no obligation on the assessee, creates no charge, deems nothing to be income and attaches no evidentiary consequence to an entry. Rule 114-I confines the statement to six heads of information plus whatever the Board authorises under sub-rule (2), and prescribes Form No. 26AS.
The section is one sentence and its grammar decides the question. The subject is the prescribed income-tax authority; the verb is 'shall upload'; the object is an annual information statement; and the content is 'such information, which is in the possession of an income-tax authority, as may be prescribed'. There is no addressee other than the authority, no consequence attached to the contents, and no provision corresponding to, say, section 68 or section 69A that turns an unexplained entry into income. The rule then narrows rather than widens: sub-rule (1) admits six categories, each of which is a record of something the department has been told by somebody else — a deductor's or collector's statement, a reporting person's statement of financial transactions under section 285BA, a challan, the department's own demand and refund records, and its own proceedings — and sub-rule (2) adds information received from other authorities, from treaty partners under section 90 or section 90A, or from any other person. Every category is second-hand by design, which is why the machinery for correcting it sits in section 285BA rather than in section 285BB: sub-section (4) allows the prescribed authority to intimate a defect to the reporting person and require rectification within thirty days, and sub-section (6) requires the reporting person who discovers an inaccuracy to inform the authority within ten days and furnish the correct information. The person who must fix a wrong entry is therefore the person who filed it, not the person it names. In the words reproduced by the source cited on this page: "285BB. The prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by such authority shall upload in the registered account of the assessee an annual information statement in such form and manner, within such time and alongwith such information, which is in the possession of an income-tax authority, as may be prescribed."
It was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions on 2020-06-01 and is reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.285BB, inserted by Act No. 12 of 2020 with effect from 1 June 2020; Income-tax Rules 1962, rule 114-I and Form No. 26AS. Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them. A CBDT circular or instruction binds officers of the department but not the assessee and not the courts. Where a circular helps you, you may hold the department to it. Where it hurts you, it cannot override the Act or a judgment. On section 285BB, section 285BA, section 285BA(4), section 285BA(6), section 133(6), section 90, section 90A, the practical question is whether the facts of your own notice match the facts of this case closely enough for the same rule to apply.
It cuts both ways and is cited by both sides. Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory and subordinate legislative text. Section 285BB imposes a duty on the prescribed income-tax authority to upload information already in the possession of an income-tax authority into the assessee's registered account. It imposes no obligation on the assessee, creates no charge, deems nothing to be income and attaches no evidentiary consequence to an entry. Rule 114-I confines the statement to six heads of information plus whatever the Board authorises under sub-rule (2), and prescribes Form No. 26AS. It arises in Assessment & Scrutiny, Evidence & Burden of Proof, Reassessment & Reopening and How Tax Law Is Read matters, on section 285BB, section 285BA, section 285BA(4), section 285BA(6), section 133(6), section 90, section 90A of the Income Tax Act 1961, and was decided by Not applicable — statutory text. Before relying on it, read the source linked on this page and check whether it has since been distinguished, overruled or overtaken by an amendment to the Income Tax Act. In practice the steps that follow from it are these. Identify the reporting entity behind the entry and the head of rule 114-I(1) it falls under, then take the correction to that entity — only the filer can amend the statement of financial transactions it filed under s.285BA. File feedback on the entry through the compliance portal and keep the acknowledgement; it is the record that the entry was disputed at the time and not after the notice. Ask the officer to exercise his power under s.133(6) to verify the entry with the reporting entity where the entity will not correct it — a Tribunal has treated the failure to do so as fatal to the addition. Where the entry carries a name that is not your client's against your client's PAN, say so in terms and produce the AIS or AIR extract showing the mismatch; that is the fact pattern in which additions have been deleted outright. Reconcile the AIS against the books before filing the return rather than after the notice, and where the two genuinely differ, disclose the difference and its reason in the return itself.
Still good law. This is the statute and the rule, not a decision about them. The section text is identical on three departmental pages stamped Year 2020, Year 2021 and Year 2023, the earliest carrying the insertion footnote 'Ins. by the Act No. 12 of 2020, w.e.f. 1-6-2020'. Because no page carrying a stamp later than 2023 was located for this section, a subsequent amendment cannot be excluded. Rule 114-I carries no year stamp, as no departmental rule page does. Whether the statement now served on the compliance portal under the name 'Annual Information Statement', with its feedback mechanism and Taxpayer Information Summary, has been separately prescribed by notification since the rule was framed was NOT established on this pass, and nothing is said about it. No source could be cited for that finding. Checking whether an authority still stands matters as much as knowing what it held: a decision may be overruled on one point and survive on another, or the provision it interprets may have been amended since. Read the source and the editor's note on this page before relying on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal.
This is a statutory entry, not a decided case. The 'tier' value 'cbdt' is used because the library's fixed tier vocabulary has no value for a statutory entry; 'bench' reads 'Not applicable — statutory text' and 'favours' is null. The date in 'decided_on', 1 June 2020, is the COMMENCEMENT DATE of section 285BB as inserted by Act No. 12 of 2020, recorded in the footnote on the departmental page, and is not a decision date. Sourcing. Section 285BB was read from three departmental pages, stamped Year 2020, Year 2021 and Year 2023, all printing identical text; the Year 2020 page carries the footnote 'Ins. by the Act No. 12 of 2020, w.e.f. 1-6-2020' and the Year 2021 and Year 2023 pages carry the further footnote 'See rule 114-I and Form No. 26AS'. No page carrying a stamp later than 2023 was located for this section, so a subsequent amendment cannot be excluded, though three pages spanning 2020 to 2023 agree word for word. Rule 114-I was read in full from https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/w/rule-114-i; departmental RULE pages carry no 'Year:' stamp and this one printed none, so the rule is not dated here and I do not claim to have dated it. The observation that rule 114-I prescribes Form No. 26AS rather than a separately named 'Annual Information Statement' form is drawn from the text of the rule as printed on that page and from the footnote on the section page; the departmental instruction or notification under which the portal AIS and its feedback mechanism are administered was NOT retrieved on this pass and nothing is stated about its content. Section 203AA, which formerly provided for the statement now covered by section 285BB, was not examined. No indiankanoon bare-act page was used for any part of this entry. This library shows the verification state of every entry openly. This entry has not yet been read in full by a chartered accountant. The summary reflects the sources listed on this page. Read the source before you rely on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory and subordinate legislative text. Section 285BB imposes a duty on the prescribed income-tax authority to upload information already in the possession of an income-tax authority into the assessee's registered account. It imposes no obligation on the assessee, creates no charge, deems nothing to be income and attaches no evidentiary consequence to an entry. Rule 114-I confines the statement to six heads of information plus whatever the Board authorises under sub-rule (2), and prescribes Form No. 26AS.
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