Form 26AS is your consolidated annual tax statement on the income tax portal, showing all tax deposited against your PAN — TDS deducted by others, TCS collected from you, advance tax and self-assessment tax you paid, and refunds issued. It is the government's ledger of your tax credits, and your return must reconcile with it before filing.
Every deductor who cuts TDS on your income files a quarterly return mapping that tax to your PAN; those filings flow into your 26AS. When you file your ITR, the credits you claim are matched against this statement. Claim more than 26AS shows and you get a mismatch adjustment in the section 270(1) intimation (the old 143(1)); claim less and you leave your own money on the table.
Practical routine for a business owner: download 26AS from the e-filing portal or via net banking a couple of weeks before filing, and once more just before submitting, since deductor filings trickle in after quarter-end. Match every TDS entry against your invoices and bank credits. If a customer deducted TDS but it is missing, chase them to file or correct their TDS return — only they can fix it; you cannot force the credit into your PAN.
Edge case: 26AS and the AIS are not the same document. 26AS is the narrower tax-credit statement; AIS is the broader information statement covering reported financial transactions. Reconcile both, but treat 26AS as the authority on how much tax credit you can actually claim.
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Reviewed to the law in force in FY 2026-27. General information, not advice — confirm the position for your facts before acting.