ITR Form 168 is the new official name and form number for your Annual Information Statement, the document that replaces Form 26AS under India's new tax law. It takes effect from Tax Year 2026-27, meaning income you earn on or after April 1, 2026, reported on the return you file in 2027.
If you are filing your ITR for FY 2025-26 right now, you are still working with Form 26AS, not Form 168.
Today, let's discuss what Form 168 actually contains, how it connects to AIS and TIS, and what you need to do with it once it applies to you.
What is Form 168
Form 168 is a consolidated, auto-generated tax statement linked to your PAN. It pulls together your TDS, TCS, advance tax payments, refunds, and specified financial transactions into one document, notified under Form 168 – Annual Information Statement, Rule 245 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026.
You do not fill this form out or file it. The Income Tax Department generates it for you, using data that banks, employers, mutual funds, and other reporting entities upload throughout the year. Your job is to check it, not create it.
Form 168 comes out of the same overhaul that gave India the Income-tax Act, 2025, which replaces the Income-tax Act, 1961. Part of that overhaul was standardizing form numbers and consolidating scattered statements into fewer, clearer documents. Form 168 is one result of that cleanup. It didn't appear on its own, it's the tax-statement piece of a much larger renumbering exercise across dozens of income tax forms.
Is Form 168 the same as Form 26AS
In practical terms, yes. Form 168 replaces Form 26AS. Form 26AS used to show only your tax credits, TDS, TCS, advance tax, and self-assessment tax. Form 168 covers all of that plus the wider financial transaction data that used to live separately in AIS.
Is Form 168 the same as AIS
Also yes, and this is the question I see most often. Form 168 is the new statutory form number for what you already know as the Annual Information Statement. The government's own page for it is literally titled "Form 168 – Annual Information Statement (AIS)." So Form 168 did not invent a new document, it gave AIS an official form number and folded Form 26AS's job into it.
Form 168 is not Section 168
One quick correction before we go further, because Google keeps mixing these up. Form No. 168 is the annual statement we are talking about. Section 168 of the Income-tax Act is a completely unrelated legal provision. If you searched "Section 168" hoping to learn about your tax statement, you want Form 168, not Section 168.
What's inside Form 168
The form is split into two parts, and knowing the difference helps you find what you're looking for fast.
Part A: your personal details
This section holds your name, date of birth (or date of incorporation for entities), address, PAN, email ID, and contact number. It is a record check, not a financial one. If anything here is wrong, it usually means your PAN details need an update, not your tax filing.
Part B: your financial data
This is where the real substance sits. Part B covers five categories: TDS and TCS entries, specified financial transactions (SFTs) like mutual fund purchases or property deals, tax payments including advance tax and self-assessment tax, demand and refund status, and the status of any pending or completed proceedings against your PAN.
Say Rahul sold a mutual fund holding worth 4 lakh rupees and earned 60,000 rupees in NRO interest during the year. Both show up in Part B, the mutual fund sale as an SFT entry, the interest as a TDS entry with the exact amount deducted. Rahul doesn't type any of this in himself, he only checks that the numbers on the statement match what his bank and mutual fund house actually reported.
| Document | What it is | What it shows | Can you claim TDS credit from it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form 26AS (older, still used for FY 2025-26) | Tax credit statement | TDS, TCS, advance tax, self-assessment tax | Yes |
| AIS | Broader transaction statement | Salary, interest, dividends, mutual funds, property, and more | No, on its own |
| TIS | Simplified summary of AIS | Category-wise totals, used to pre-fill your ITR | No, it's a summary only |
| Form 168 (from Tax Year 2026-27) | The new statutory form number for AIS | Everything Form 26AS and AIS showed, combined | Yes |
The rule that trips people up: TDS credit can only be claimed based on Form 26AS today, and Form 168 once it applies. AIS gives you the fuller income picture, but it is not the document the department checks your TDS claim against. TIS is just a simplified summary built to help you pre-fill your return faster, it carries no independent credit value either.
This matters because people sometimes cross-check their numbers against AIS, see everything looks fine, and skip Form 26AS or Form 168 entirely. That's backwards. Use AIS to catch income you might have forgotten, and use Form 26AS or Form 168 to confirm the actual TDS figure you're allowed to claim. They do different jobs, and skipping either one leaves a gap.
When Form 168 actually applies
Form 168 becomes relevant from Tax Year 2026-27, which covers income earned on or after April 1, 2026, and gets filed in 2027. Your return for FY 2025-26, due this filing season, is still governed by the older rules and still uses Form 26AS. This form rename is one piece of a bigger overhaul under the new Income-tax Act, and if you want the full picture of what else changes, I've laid it out separately in the residency rule changes taking effect this April. I'll keep this piece focused on the form itself, and you can check my how-to guide for filing your NRI tax return if you need the current-year filing steps.
How to access and download Form 168
You do not need to prepare anything here, only retrieve it.
- Log in to the Income Tax e-filing portal with your PAN and password.
- Go to the Services menu and select AIS (Annual Information Statement).
- Click Proceed, then select AIS.
- Choose PDF or JSON format and download.
Once Form 168 becomes the active document, this same portal path will show it under its new name. Until then, you'll find Form 26AS through the same Services menu instead.
You also have two other routes if the main portal is slow or unavailable. TRACES lets you view and download your tax credit statement separately, and most major banks let you pull it through net banking if your account is linked to your PAN. All three routes pull from the same underlying data, so it doesn't matter which one you use.
How to fix a wrong entry in Form 168
If a number in Part B looks off, a TDS entry that doesn't match your bank record, or a transaction you don't recognize, you do not need to call anyone. You submit feedback directly against that entry on the portal, choosing the option that fits: the information is correct, it's a duplicate, it's not taxable, or the amount is wrong. Your feedback flows into the underlying data and updates TIS, so your return reflects the corrected figure.
Leaving a wrong entry unresolved is what usually turns into a mismatch notice months later. Fixing it upfront takes a few minutes. Ignoring it can cost you weeks of back and forth with the department.
Common mistakes to avoid when using Form 168
- Filing your return using only your salary slip or Form 16, without checking Form 168 or AIS at all.
- Assuming a transaction showing in AIS but not in your own records can be safely ignored. It cannot, the department already has it on file.
- Waiting until the last week before the deadline to reconcile. Feedback corrections take time to process, so start early.
- Treating Form 168 and AIS as two separate obligations once Form 168 takes effect. They will be the same document.
- Claiming a TDS credit that doesn't appear on your tax credit statement at all, based only on a certificate your bank or employer handed you. If it isn't reflected on the statement, the department has no record to match your claim against.
What this means for NRIs
If you're an NRI, none of the download steps change for you, but two things are worth knowing.
Take Amit, an NRI in New Jersey who holds an NRO fixed deposit in Pune. His bank deducts TDS on the interest every year, and he checks his tax credit statement before claiming that credit against his US tax bill. Once Form 168 applies, he'll be pulling the same TDS figures from the same portal, just under the new form number. If you already hold an NRI PAN card, nothing about your identification changes either, since Part A of Form 168 is PAN-based, same as before.
The second thing worth knowing: your TDS deducted from Indian income is exactly what you'll keep verifying here, whether the document is called Form 26AS or Form 168. The name changes, the reconciliation habit doesn't.
If you're outside India and don't want to log in through the regular e-filing portal, the NRI TRACES portal at nriservices.tdscpc.gov.in gives you the same tax credit data without needing an India-based session. No physical presence in India is required for any of these routes, current or future.
Conclusion
Form 168 is simply the new name and number for your Annual Information Statement, replacing Form 26AS from Tax Year 2026-27 onward. For the return you're filing this year, nothing changes, you're still working with Form 26AS. Once Form 168 takes over, the habit stays the same: check it, reconcile it against your own records, and fix anything wrong before you file.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim TDS credit based on AIS alone, or do I need Form 168?
You need Form 26AS today, or Form 168 once it applies. AIS gives you a fuller picture of your income and transactions, but the department checks your TDS credit claim against Form 26AS or Form 168, not against AIS on its own.
Is AIS mandatory for ITR filing?
There's no rule that forces you to upload or attach AIS anywhere, but skipping it is a mistake. AIS shows income the department already knows about, and any gap between what AIS shows and what you declare is a common trigger for a mismatch notice.
Should I report income even if it doesn't appear in Form 168 or AIS?
Yes. Form 168 and AIS are built from third-party reporting, and third parties sometimes miss or delay filing their data. If you know you earned income that isn't showing up yet, you still need to declare it. The statement is a cross-check, not the final word on what you owe.
What happens to Aadhaar details on Form 168?
Form 168 identifies you by PAN only and drops the Aadhaar number that older statements sometimes displayed. This is a layout change, not a compliance change, so it doesn't affect how your tax credits are calculated.
How often is Form 168 updated during the year?
It updates dynamically, not on a fixed schedule. Every time a bank, employer, or other reporting entity files their TDS, TCS, or transaction data with the department, that update reflects in your statement within days. This is why checking it once, right before filing, usually isn't enough, entries can still change afterward.
Will Form 168 change how NRIs claim DTAA or foreign tax credit?
No, the mechanics stay the same. You'll still pull your TDS figures from your tax credit statement to support your DTAA claim, just under the new form name once Tax Year 2026-27 arrives. What matters for your claim is the accuracy of the TDS entry, not which form number it sits under.