How much do payroll services cost for small businesses?

The cost of payroll services can vary depending on the features you need and the size of your business. On average, most small businesses can expect to pay between $20 and $200 per month for payroll services

Can payroll services handle tax filing?

Yes, most payroll services automatically handle federal, state, and local tax filings, ensuring compliance with tax laws.

Is it better to outsource payroll or manage it in-house?

Outsourcing payroll saves time and reduces the risk of errors. It is often more cost-effective for small businesses to outsource payroll rather than hiring a full-time staff member to manage it in-house.

Can payroll services handle benefits administration?

Many payroll services also offer benefits administration, helping small businesses manage health insurance, retirement plans, and other employee benefits.

What happens if payroll errors occur?

If errors occur, most payroll services offer guarantees and will correct the mistake and handle any penalties resulting from their error.

Can I use payroll services for both full-time and part-time employees?

Yes, payroll services can handle payments for all types of employees, including full-time, part-time, and contract workers.

AIS -Annual Information Statement – The new Action Card by CBDT and a must go through before you submit your Online ITR

CBDT has been constantly using and further upgrading technology to gather information about the income sources and financial assets of the taxpayer. The aim is to dig further deep into the income and investment profiles of the taxpayer so that tax evasion is bought to the minimum level. Annual Information Statement (AIS) is one such report which has been introduced in Financial Year 2020-21.

What is Annual Information Statement?

AIS is the report issued by CBDT for each taxpayer. It is on similar lines to 26AS but is more comprehensive than 26as.

How to view or download AIS?

To view/download AIS follow the below-mentioned simple steps:

Login to the Income Tax E Filing portal with your User ID( PAN) and the password.
Hover around the Services option
Click on the option Annual Information Statement
A message will be displayed asking for your permission to proceed on AIS Homepage. Select Proceed
Click on AIS
Select the Financial Year
Two options will reflect Tax Payer Information Summary (TIS) and AIS. Click on AIS.
You can now View AIS
To Download AIS in PDF format. Click on Download and select the AIS –PDF option.

Password to open AIS is the combination of taxpayer’s pan in lowercase followed by Date of Birth in DDMMYYYY format for Individual taxpayers. In the case of Non Individual taxpayers, the password is a combination of tax payer’s pan in lowercase followed by Date of Incorporation/Business registration in DDMMYYYY

What are the different parts of AIS?

AIS is divided into 2 parts. Part A and Part B

Part A- This part contains general information and personal details of the Taxpayer like name, date of birth, address, etc.

Part B- This part contains the overall information about the income and assets transactions of the Taxpayer. It contains information under the following heads.

TDS/TCS Information- The income of the taxpayer on which TDS/TCS is deducted/collected is shown here.

SFT Transaction- Information pertaining to Financial transactions like the Sale or purchase of financial securities is shown here.

Payment of taxes- The details of taxes paid by the Taxpayer is reflected here
Demand & Refund- The demands raised by the CBDT and refunds processed for the Taxpayer are reflected here.

Other Information- Transactions not falling in the above categories are reported here like Foreign Currency purchases/payments.

How is AIS different from 26AS?

Since Financial 2008-09 we have been viewing 26AS. It also contains information about our income from various sources so why a new report AIS was introduced by CBDT. It’s important to note here that AIS is a comprehensive and detailed version of 26AS.

Further, as you would have noticed 26AS is not an interactive report whereas AIS is a taxpayer-friendly report which gives an option to give taxpayers feedback on the correctness of the information displayed.

Which information to rely on if there are mismatches between 26AS and AIS?

In cases where 26AS and AIS reflect different information relating to the same specified transaction information reflected in 26AS should be relied upon.

How the CBDT gathers information displayed in AIS?

The information pertaining to Income – Salary, Rental, Professional Fee, and Contractual Receipts is gathered through the TDS Returns submitted by the various deductors

The information about Property Transactions- is captured from the Property Registrar offices and also through the submission of Form 26QB by the property purchaser.

The information pertaining to the sale or purchase of Shares, Mutual Funds, or Financial Securities as well as Dividend / Interest receipts are obtained from the Annual Information Report required to be submitted by specified persons u/s 285BA of the Income Tax Act 1961

What to do, if you notice incorrect information in AIS?

As mentioned earlier, AIS is an interactive tool and CBDT has given us an option to interact with it by giving our feedback. The feedback is optional and is advisable to be used if any incorrect information is shown in AIS.

For instance, if the AIS reflects a sale of Mutual Funds transaction of Rs 5,00,000 in taxpayer’s Shyam AIS. Then it is in the interest of Shyam to give his feedback on the relevant transaction by giving Feedback –Information is denied. In the absence of any feedback, the information is deemed to be accepted by the Shyam. In such cases, the likelihood of getting notices by Shyam from the IT Department gets increased as there would be a mismatch between the information filed in ITR and reflected in AIS.

The Feedback Type has the following options for selection

1. Information is correct
2. Income is not taxable
3. Information is not fully correct
4. Information relates to other PAN/Year
5. Information is duplicate/included in other information
6. Information is denied

Once the Feedback is submitted the modified information is reflected in the TIS-Taxpayer Information Summary on the same link

How the information reflected in AIS should be used while filing your Online ITR?

While preparing your Income Tax Return, due consideration needs to be given to the information reflected in AIS. The income sources/amounts disclosed in the ITR should match with the sources/amounts reflected in AIS. If they don’t match make sure to have explanations for leaving them in your ITR. It is highly recommended to submit point-to-point feedback in AIS.

Do non-individuals – like companies, partnership firms, etc. too have AIS?

Yes, AIS is generated for all taxpayers whether individuals or no individuals. By Taxpayers, here we mean PAN holders.

How often is AIS updated?

AIS is captured by the submission of various returns by the deductors and specified persons. These submissions are usually quarterly.

What surprises you might encounter when you see your AIS?

Dividend Receipts
The detailed Sale transaction of Equity Shares- the information displayed is pretty impressive and you can calculate the capital gains/losses from the transaction here itself
Foreign Currency payments- This might make you wonder and will force you to think about the small auto-debits for Gmail storage, Netflix subscriptions, etc.
Details for Purchase of Fixed Deposits/Mutual Funds/Shares etc.

Wrap Up

With the introduction of AIS, the CBDT wants to tell the Taxpayer that they know more about the Taxpayer’s income and assets than what the Taxpayer thinks that CBDT knows about them.

Make sure to match your income sources and amounts with AIS before finalizing your Annual Income Tax Return

Sample AIS Given Below