Is there a penalty for filing AIS or TIS late?
Neither is filed by you, so neither can be filed late by you. The statement and its summary are assembled by the department from reports made by banks, brokers, registrars and other institutions, and they carry no due date in your name. The deadlines that do matter are the institutions' reporting deadlines, which are their responsibility, and your own return deadline, which is yours. What a late report costs you is not a penalty but a mismatch: a statement that changes after you have filed, and an enquiry about a difference you did not create.
My AIS changed after I had already filed, what should I do?
Read the new entry before assuming your return is wrong. Late additions are commonly a duplicate of something already declared, a joint holding attributed wholly to you, or a transaction reported in the wrong year. If the entry is genuinely yours and was omitted, the return can be corrected, and correcting it yourself is a far better position than answering a notice about it later. If the entry is wrong, take it up with the institution that reported it and keep the correspondence, because a difference between your return and the statement is what a reviewer sees first.
A bank reported my transaction late, am I the one in trouble?
The reporting obligation is the bank's, and the consequence of missing its own deadline is the bank's. Your exposure is different in kind: your return was prepared against a picture that was incomplete, and the statement now says something your filing does not. That is answered with documents rather than with blame. Establish what the late entry is, whether it duplicates something you already declared, and whether it belongs in the year it landed in. Then either correct the return or write down why no correction is needed, and keep that note with the file.
I am filing several years late, does AIS go back that far?
Often far enough to be the backbone of the exercise, and it is where we would start. For each year in scope the statement tells you which institutions reported what about you, which is exactly the information someone who has been out of the country for a long stretch does not have. Work through it year by year, group the entries by source, then look for the income no institution would have reported: cash rent, a foreign payer, an account closed before the reporting began. The gaps matter as much as the entries do.
Will a mismatch with AIS delay processing of my return?
A difference the department can see and you have not explained is one of the more reliable ways to draw attention to a return, and attention takes time. Not every difference is a problem, since proceeds reported gross will always exceed the gain, and one transaction is sometimes reported by both sides of it. What causes delay is a difference with nothing behind it. The way to keep a return moving is to reconcile before filing, carry the correct figures, and hold the working paper that explains each difference in case it is ever asked for.
Do I need AIS before filing, or can I file and fix later?
You can file and fix, but you will do more work and you will do it to a timetable set by somebody else. Filing after the reconciliation means you choose which figures go in and you have the explanation ready. Filing before it means the statement may move underneath you, and the first you hear of a difference is a notice with a reply date on it. Where a filing deadline leaves no room, file on your own correct figures rather than on a partial statement, then reconcile and correct promptly rather than waiting to be asked.
What is a totalization agreement and how do I use one?
A social security agreement that stops you contributing to two systems for the same work, and lets periods in both count towards benefit eligibility in either. Which system you stay in depends on the agreement's rules for your situation — a seconded employee usually remains in the home system for a set period, a locally hired one usually joins the host system. You evidence it with a certificate of coverage obtained before or shortly after the assignment starts. See certificates of coverage.
I work remotely from another country for a company back home — who taxes me?
Usually the country you are physically in, because employment income is generally sourced where the work is done, with your residence country taxing it as well if you are resident there and giving credit. Three things follow: your employer may acquire withholding and social security obligations where you sit, a treaty tie-breaker may be needed if both countries call you resident, and a short trip that becomes a long stay can cross a residence threshold nobody was watching. See remote workers and digital nomads.
