A set of institutions is required to report specified financial transactions against your PAN. These reports flow into your Annual Information Statement, and they are the raw material for the comparisons the department runs against your return. None of it is secret, and none of it is an accusation.
The thresholds most people meet
| Reported by | Transaction | Broad threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Bank | Cash deposits in savings accounts | ₹10 lakh in a year, aggregated |
| Bank | Cash deposits or withdrawals in current accounts | ₹50 lakh in a year |
| Bank / NBFC | Fixed deposits | ₹10 lakh in a year |
| Card issuer | Credit card bills paid in cash | ₹1 lakh in a year |
| Card issuer | Credit card bills paid by any mode | ₹10 lakh in a year |
| Registrar | Purchase or sale of immovable property | ₹30 lakh |
| Company / AMC | Shares, debentures, mutual fund units | ₹10 lakh in a year |
These aggregate across the year and across accounts of the same type. Ten deposits of ₹1.1 lakh into a savings account is a reported transaction; one deposit of ₹1.1 lakh is not.
A report is information, not a charge
A reported transaction says money moved. It says nothing about whether it was income, or whether tax was due. A property purchase funded by a home loan and your own savings is fully reportable and entirely unremarkable.
What draws attention is a reported transaction with no explanation available — a value inconsistent with the income declared, and nothing on record connecting the two. That is why the AIS feedback mechanism matters: it lets you attach the explanation before anyone asks.
What to do with this
- Check the AIS before filing, every year, close to the filing date.
- For every high-value entry, be able to state the source in one sentence — sale proceeds, loan disbursement, gift from a relative, redemption of an investment.
- Keep the document behind that sentence. A gift needs a deed or written confirmation; a property sale needs the computation.
- Where the report is wrong or duplicated, submit feedback rather than ignoring it.
- Watch the cash thresholds alongside the cash transaction limits — the same deposit can be both reportable and penalised.
The point is not to avoid reportable transactions. It is to have the explanation ready at the time, rather than reconstructing it three years later.
Where we come in
We reconcile the AIS before filing and record the explanation for every high-value entry, so a later query has an immediate answer. See notice handling if one has already arrived.
This article is general information, not professional advice. Limits, rates and dates change by notification — confirm the position for your own year before acting on it.