AIS Shows Rent Received but You Are Not a Landlord

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

It is July 2026 and Anjali, a salaried analyst in Pune, opens her AIS before filing her return. Under Rent received sits Rs 6,00,000 against her PAN, with TDS of Rs 12,000. She owns no property and has never let one out. What happened is almost always one of two things. A tenant somewhere paid rent above Rs 50,000 a month, deducted TDS under Section 194-IB, and quoted a wrong landlord PAN in Form 26QC that happens to be hers. Or someone quoted her PAN as their landlord's in an HRA claim to their employer. Both leave a rent trail on a stranger's statement. Both can be fixed without a lawyer.

Open the entry in AIS Part B and note three things: the reported amount, the source (TDS under 194-IB usually means a 26QC filing, an employer-sourced entry usually means an HRA claim), and the deductor or reporting entity details shown. A 26QC-based entry carries the tenant's particulars, which means the person who made the error is traceable. Take a screenshot and download your AIS PDF before anything changes.

1. Log in to incometax.gov.in, go to Services, AIS, open the rent entry.
2. Choose feedback: information relates to other PAN/year if the rent is simply not yours, or information is not fully correct if part of it is genuine.
3. Submit and save the confirmation. Your Taxpayer Information Summary updates immediately to show your modified value alongside the reported one.
4. Download the AIS Consolidated Feedback (ACF) PDF. This timestamped record is your defence if a verification query comes later.

Feedback marks the entry as disputed. It does not delete the underlying 26QC filing, which is why a second fix exists.

Only the tenant who filed the 26QC can correct it. If the AIS entry or your network helps you identify the tenant, write to them with the facts: their challan quoted your PAN instead of their landlord's, and they should file a 26QC correction on TRACES under Statements and Forms, Request for Correction. The correction is verified with Aadhaar OTP, DSC or net banking, and in some cases needs Assessing Officer approval. Once processed, the rent and TDS move from your PAN to the real landlord's, and your AIS clears at source. The tenant has their own incentive to act: until the PAN is corrected, their real landlord gets no TDS credit and may refuse to adjust the rent.

If the tenant is a complete stranger you cannot trace, rely on the feedback route plus a grievance on the portal under Services, Grievances, stating that an unknown deductor has reported rent against your PAN and asking the department to verify the 26QC filing.

Anjali's entry showed TDS of Rs 12,000 on rent of Rs 6,00,000, which matched the 2 per cent rate under Section 194-IB that applies from October 2024. The tenant details belonged to a company employee in Baner whose landlord's PAN differed from hers by one character. On 14 July she submitted AIS feedback as relates to other PAN. On 15 July she emailed the tenant with her PAN card copy and a polite explanation. The tenant filed the 26QC correction on 22 July. Anjali filed her ITR on 28 July without including the rent, kept the ACF PDF, and the corrected entry vanished from her AIS in the next refresh cycle.

The department's systems compare reported information with filed returns. An unexplained Rs 6,00,000 of rent can trigger an e-Campaign SMS, a compliance portal query, or in time a notice asking why income was not disclosed. Replying then is harder than submitting feedback now. The deadline trap: if a query arrives under the e-Verification Scheme, it carries a response window, usually 15 to 30 days. Missing it lets the entry stand unchallenged.

Usually it is a typo. But if the same PAN appears in HRA claims you never received rent for, someone may be using your PAN to fake rent receipts. Submit AIS feedback, keep copies, and state in your portal grievance that you suspect misuse. You are not liable for tax on income you never earned, but the documentary trail protects you. Persistent misuse can also be reported in writing to your jurisdictional Assessing Officer.

The Income Tax Department is a public authority. RTI cannot identify a third party's full details for you, since personal information of others is exempt under Section 8(1)(j). What RTI can do is get the status of your grievance, the action taken on your feedback, and the reasons recorded if nothing moved. File via RTI Online for Rs 10, and use a first appeal if the PIO is evasive. The guide on filing RTI online covers the format.

No. You declare your actual income. File feedback so the record reflects your position, and keep the ACF PDF in case the CPC or an officer asks.

No. AIS entries are information, not assessments. Notices come when large reported amounts stay unexplained. Feedback submitted before filing usually closes the gap.

The AIS entry itself shows deductor details for 26QC-based TDS. Beyond that, RTI will not give you another person's particulars. Route it through a portal grievance instead.

Use information is not fully correct and enter the true amount. Then ask your actual tenant to correct their 26QC figures on TRACES.

Under Section 194-IB, 5 per cent up to September 2024 and 2 per cent from 1 October 2024. A mismatch between the rate and the rent figure is itself a clue that the filing was botched.

Submit the same AIS feedback. There is no TRACES correction for HRA reporting, so the feedback plus a grievance is the route. If a colleague or relative used your PAN, ask them to correct their declaration with their employer.

No. The entry stays visible with both the reported and modified values. Disappearance happens only if the deductor corrects the source filing.

• AIS or Form 26AS mismatch: property sale, FD interest, salary TDS
• Advance tax paid under the wrong assessment year
• All practical guides

Download the wrong-PAN rent entry checklist (PDF).