New Delhi, July 28 -- As the July 31 deadline for filing income tax returns (ITRs) for Assessment Year (AY) 2026-27 approaches, taxpayers are racing to complete their filings. While pre-filled returns have simplified the process, filing in a hurry can result in costly mistakes that may lead to refund delays, tax demands or notices from the Income Tax Department.

The tax department has repeatedly advised taxpayers to reconcile the information available in Form 26AS, the Annual Information Statement (AIS) and the Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) before submitting their returns. Here are five common mistakes taxpayers should avoid.

Many salaried taxpayers rely solely on Form 16 while filing their ITR. However, Form 16 only reflects salar...