TDS Return Filing

Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) is the Income-tax Department's largest information feed — every salary, contractor payment, professional fee, rent, commission, interest payout and immovable-property sale above the threshold flows through a deductor's TAN, lands in Form 26AS / AIS / TIS of the deductee, and forms the spine of how the Department reconciles every taxpayer's return. By 2026, the system is increasingly automated under Section 200A — quarterly returns are processed within days, intimations are issued algorithmically, and the smallest mismatch between the deductor's challan, the deductee's PAN, and the Form 26AS feed surfaces as a Section 200A intimation, a Section 154 rectification request, or a Section 234E late-fee demand.

The 2026 TDS regime hinges on four quarterly returns and one set of certificates: Form 24Q (TDS on salaries under Section 192), Form 26Q (TDS on non-salary payments to residents), Form 27Q (TDS on payments to non-residents under Section 195 / 196B / 196C), and Form 27EQ (Tax Collected at Source under Section 206C). Quarterly due dates: 31 July (Q1), 31 October (Q2), 31 January (Q3), and 31 May (Q4). Certificates: Form 16 (annual salary TDS) by 15 June; Form 16A / 27D (quarterly) within 15 days of the return due date — both downloaded from the TRACES portal using the deductor login. Section 234E imposes a ₹200-per-day late fee for delayed filing, capped only at the TDS amount itself, and on top of that Section 271H can impose a penalty of ₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000 for non-filing or incorrect filing — neither of which is waived through casual condonation.

We run TDS as a quarterly engagement — challan deposit by the 7th of the next month, deductee-wise mapping, return drafting in NSDL utility, validation on the TRACES portal, certificate issuance, and correction-statement filing where mismatches surface — so the deductor's TAN never accumulates default markers and every deductee's Form 26AS reflects the right credit.

The Four TDS Forms

• Form 24Q — Salary TDS (Section 192):: Quarterly statement of TDS deducted from salaries. Q4 return additionally includes the annual salary details, deductions claimed under Chapter VI-A (after the 2025 regime overhaul), employee-wise salary structure, and the data that becomes Form 16 Part B.

• Form 26Q — Non-Salary Resident TDS:: TDS on payments to residents under Sections 194A (interest), 194C (contractor), 194H (commission), 194I (rent), 194J (professional fees), 194Q (purchase of goods), 194R (benefits / perquisites), 194S (virtual digital assets) and others. The most voluminous return for most businesses.

• Form 27Q — Non-Resident TDS:: TDS on payments to non-residents under Sections 195, 196A / B / C / D — covering interest, royalty, fees for technical services, dividend, capital gains and other non-resident remittances. Requires Form 15CA / 15CB linkage at the time of remittance.

• Form 27EQ — TCS:: Tax Collected at Source under Section 206C — alcoholic liquor, tendu leaves, scrap, motor vehicles above ₹10 lakh, foreign remittances under LRS above ₹7 lakh, sale of goods (206C(1H)) — filed quarterly with the same calendar.

Certificates — Form 16, Form 16A, Form 27D

Form 16: Annual salary TDS certificate — Part A (challan / TDS summary, downloaded from TRACES) and Part B (salary structure, deductions) — issued to each employee by 15 June following the FY end.
Form 16A: Quarterly certificate for non-salary TDS — issued to each deductee within 15 days of the return due date.
Form 27D: Quarterly TCS certificate — issued to each collectee within 15 days of the return due date.
TRACES Portal: All certificates are mandatorily downloaded from TRACES (post-validation by the Department) — manually-prepared certificates have no legal validity.

Section 200A Processing, 234E Late Fee, 271H Penalty

Section 200A: Automated processing of every TDS return — adjustments for arithmetical errors, incorrect rates, late-fee under 234E, interest under 201(1A) — issued as an intimation usually within 1-30 days.
Section 234E: ₹200 per day late fee for late filing, capped at the TDS amount itself. The fee is automatic and non-condonable in routine cases.
Section 271H: Discretionary penalty of ₹10,000-₹1,00,000 for non-filing beyond one year or filing of materially incorrect statements — assessed by the Assessing Officer.
Section 201(1A): Interest at 1% per month for delayed deduction and 1.5% per month for delayed deposit — runs from the date of deduction / deductibility until deposit.

Mismatches and Correction Statements

The most common reasons Form 26AS does not show the right credit: PAN of deductee invalid or misspelt, challan number / BSR code mismatch, deduction date / payment date wrongly entered, deductee-wise breakup not summing to challan, wrong section quoted. Correction is via online correction on TRACES (PAN correction, challan correction, deductee correction, addition / deletion of deductee) — we file the correction statement, track until processing, and confirm the credit lands in the deductee's 26AS.