AIS–ITR Mismatches: 'Unnecessary Panic' Over Tax Dept's Bulk Emails
In many cases, the flagged transactions include property or vehicle purchases that are not income-related, experts noted.
Tax expert Abhas Halakhandi has shared details highlighting issues with bulk emails sent by the Income Tax Department. These emails flag mismatches between income reported in ITRs and transactions shown in AIS.
AIS or Annual Information Statement is a statement that provides complete information about a taxpayer for a particular financial year. In many cases, the flagged transactions include property or vehicle purchases that are not income-related, according to Halakhandi.
"This, in many cases, includes transactions not relevant to the reported income, such as purchase of property or vehicles. Such acquisitions may be made out of accumulated savings, loans, gifts, or past income and there is no requirement or specific place in the ITR to report these as income," he pointed out in an X post on Tuesday.
Halakhandi said that including such capital transactions in bulk mismatch notices creates unnecessary panic.
Tagging the official account of the tax department, he said: “While information like cash deposits/withdrawals may be relevant for verification but including irrelevant capital transactions in bulk mismatch mails creates unnecessary panic and trust issues among compliant taxpayers!”
The screenshots of the emails shared by Halakhandi on his X profile show two images. These images carry email from the officials warning that there is a mismatch in the ITR and AIS data.
The email further warns the taxpayers: “You are required to revise your ITR by Dec. 31, 2025.”
One of the images shows the tax department flagging the purchase of a vehicle worth Rs 4.9 crore. The department flagged it as a “high-value transaction” noting that it was “inconsistent” with the income reported.
Reacting to the post, another accountant Avneesh Malik said that his firm’s clients received similar emails.
“...We have re-checked the information and told all our clients no need to worry about this. The income tax department email is designed like-we will pick your case for detailed scrutiny. Our view is clear, if a person pays all his tax diligently and files his or her return properly, for many years then he or she doesn't need to worry about anything,” he said.
A taxpayer, identified as Sujeet, said that he received a similar email last year but the issue was resolved after first hearing.
“I got this last financial year and it was solved on the 1st hearing after showing the sale of the flat and buying another flat with the same money…,” he said.
“Such emails are mindless bureaucratic inceptions just to delay refunds,” another user reacted.
Some people pointed out that the issue is likely a glitch and may have been caused due to some AI-linked automation. These claims couldn’t be verified independently.
