The income tax department has expanded the list of high-value financial transactions which would be available to taxpayers in their form 26AS by including details of mutual fund (MF) purchases, foreign remittances, as well as information in ITRs of other taxpayers. Form 26AS is an annual consolidated tax statement that can be accessed from the income-tax website by taxpayers using their Permanent Account Number (PAN).

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on October 26 issued an order under Section 285BB of the I-T Act expanding the scope of information reported in new Form 26AS.

Additional information prescribed includes foreign remittance made by any person through an authorised dealer, breakup of the salary with deductions claimed by the employee, information in ITR of other taxpayers, interest on Income Tax Refund, information published in Statement of Financial Transactions.

Also, off market transactions reported by depository/ registrar and transfer agent, information about dividend of mutual fund reported by RTA, and information about purchase of mutual fund reported by RTA too would be included in Form 26AS.

The CBDT authorized "Director General of Income-tax (Systems) to upload information...in her/his possession, in the Annual Information Statement in Form 26AS in the electronic filing account registered by the assessee in designated portal, within three months from the end of the month in which the information is received by her/him."

The Budget 2020-21 had introduced a new Section 285BB in the I-T Act, to revamp Form 26AS to an 'Annual Information Statement' which apart from TDS/ TCS details, would contain comprehensive information of specified financial transactions, payment of taxes, demand/ refund and pending/completed proceedings undertaken by a taxpayer in a particular financial year that has to be mentioned in income tax returns.

Following that, in May last year, the Income Tax Department had notified the revised Form 26AS, including information on high-value financial transactions undertaken during a financial year, a move which also facilitated voluntary compliance and ease of e-filing of I-T returns.

With this October 26 order, the list of details to be available in Form 26AS has been expanded further. (Source - Economic Times)