Six Filing Mistakes That Generate Notices

Filing used to be a declaration. It is now closer to a reconciliation — the department already holds a detailed picture of your financial year through AIS and TIS, and the return is checked against it automatically. Most notices are simply the system pointing out that two numbers disagree.

1. Not reading the AIS before filing

The Annual Information Statement aggregates interest, dividends, securities transactions, property dealings, high-value spending and more. Filing without opening it means filing blind against a dataset the assessing system will definitely consult.

Read it first. Where an entry is wrong — and they are sometimes wrong — submit feedback through the portal before filing, so the disagreement is on record rather than appearing to be an omission.

2. Missing small interest income

Savings account interest, recurring deposit interest, interest on a deposit held in a parent's bank, interest credited to a dormant account. Each is small; each is reported; each produces a mismatch. Deduction available on savings interest does not remove the obligation to report the income first.

3. Ignoring the previous employer

Anyone who changed jobs mid-year has two salary streams, and each employer applied the exemption limit and deductions as though it were the only one. Reporting only the current employer's Form 16 understates income almost every time — and this is one of the most reliably detected errors there is.

Two Form 16s do not add up to one correct return. The exemption limit gets counted twice unless you combine them properly.

4. Getting capital gains reporting wrong

Not the tax — the reporting. Gains must be disclosed with the correct classification and period, and equity transactions need scrip-wise or summary detail depending on the schedule. Mutual fund switches are transfers even though no money reached your account, and are frequently omitted for exactly that reason.

5. Claiming deductions without evidence

A deduction claimed in the return but absent from the employer's Form 16 is legitimate — you are entitled to claim what you actually qualify for. But it stands out, and it should be supportable. Rent paid to a family member, donations, and medical claims are the usual points of enquiry. Claim what is real, and keep the documents for the period during which the return can be examined.

6. Not verifying the return

An unverified return is treated as never filed. The consequences follow accordingly — late filing fee, loss of the right to carry forward certain losses, delayed refund. E-verification takes under a minute through Aadhaar OTP or net banking. Do it the same day you file, not the same week.

A pre-filing checklist

1. Download AIS and TIS. Read them.
2. Download Form 26AS. Reconcile TDS credit against your own records.
3. Collect every Form 16 for the year, not just the latest one.
4. List all bank and deposit accounts, including dormant ones, and gather interest certificates.
5. Pull the capital gains statement from every broker and fund house.
6. Confirm the regime you are filing under, and that it matches what you intended.
7. File — then verify immediately.

None of this is exotic. It is an hour of gathering that removes most of the reasons a notice would be issued, and the alternative is answering the same questions later with less of the paperwork to hand.

General information for educational purposes, not professional advice.