TDS Return Filing

Overview

Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) means the payer deducts tax from certain payments (salary, rent, professional fees, contractor bills, interest and so on) and deposits it with the government on the payee's behalf. Tax Collected at Source (TCS) is the mirror image: the seller collects tax from the buyer on specified sales.

Deductors and collectors report what they deducted or collected, and how it was deposited, in a quarterly statement, often called a TDS return. The statement gives the payee credit in Form 26AS and AIS. This service prepares, validates and files those statements and fixes errors through correction statements.

Who needs it

• Employers deducting tax on salary.
• Companies, firms, LLPs, trusts and any business making payments such as rent, commission, contractor and professional fees above thresholds.
• Individuals and HUFs whose accounts are audited and who therefore must deduct TDS on specified payments.
• Businesses paying non-residents, who also deal with foreign remittance compliance.
• Sellers and e-commerce operators collecting TCS.

A valid TAN is required before any statement can be filed. Individuals who deduct tax on property purchase or specified rent use challan-cum-statement forms (26QB and 26QC) and do not need a TAN.

What Zenith does

We start by listening: what payments you make, who you deduct from and how deposits are handled now. We then confirm scope, share a tailored quotation and a checklist, and assign a relationship manager.

• Classify payments into the right TDS sections and check rates, thresholds and lower deduction certificates.
• Check the deposit challans (BSR code, date, serial number) and match them to deductee lines.
• Prepare the statement in the return preparation utility, validate it with the file validation utility, upload it and verify it.
• Reconcile with Form 26AS and TRACES so payees receive credit.
• File correction statements for wrong PAN, challan or amount, and resolve default notices on TRACES.
• Share the acknowledgement (token number) and a short explanation of the quarter.

Actual tax deposit stays with you through your bank; we guide you on the challan and due date. You receive a milestone update for each quarter.

Eligibility and key rules

Which statement

Form	For	Certificate to payee
24Q	TDS on salary (Section 192)	Form 16
26Q	TDS on payments to residents other than salary	Form 16A
27Q	TDS on payments to non-residents (Section 195 and related)	Form 16A
27EQ	TCS on specified sales (Section 206C)	Form 27D

Common rates and thresholds

The table follows the TDS rate chart for FY 2026-27 read in October 2026. Section numbers are from the Income-tax Act, 1961; from 1 April 2026 the Income-tax Act, 2025 consolidates them under Section 393.

Payment	Section (1961)	Rate	Threshold
Salary	192	Slab rates	Basic exemption limit
Interest on securities	193	10%	₹10,000
Dividend	194	10%	₹10,000
Interest from banks (others)	194A	10%	₹50,000 (₹1 lakh for seniors); ₹10,000 for others
Contractors	194C	1% individuals and HUF, 2% others	₹30,000 per payment or ₹1 lakh a year
Commission or brokerage	194H	2%	₹20,000
Professional fees	194J(b)	10%	₹50,000
Technical services, royalty	194J(a)	2%	₹50,000
Rent, land and building	194I(b)	10%	₹50,000 a month
Rent, plant and machinery	194I(a)	2%	₹50,000 a month
Property purchase	194IA	1%	₹50 lakh
Goods purchase	194Q	0.1%	₹50 lakh
E-commerce participants	194O	0.1%	₹5 lakh
Payments by firms to partners	194T	10%	₹20,000

Payments to non-residents are taxed at rates that depend on the nature of the payment and any tax treaty. Public sources show different older thresholds for rent, commission and professional fees, so Zenith uses the current notified figure for the quarter in question.

Documents required

• TAN and PAN of the deductor, and TRACES login details.
• PAN of every deductee (a missing PAN raises the rate and breaks credit).
• Payment register for the quarter: date, nature, amount, section, rate, TDS deducted.
• Challan details for each deposit (BSR code, date, serial number, CIN).
• For Form 24Q: employee-wise salary and deduction details; for the fourth quarter, the annual salary annexure.
• Lower or nil deduction certificates, where received.
• For Form 27Q: nature of remittance, country and treaty details.
• Previous token number, for corrections.
• A DSC if your category requires it (companies and government deductors).

Process and timeline

1. Scoping and quotation; you share the quarter's payment register and challans.
2. We map payments to sections, compute TDS and flag short or late deductions and deposits.
3. The statement is prepared, validated and shown to you for approval.
4. It is uploaded and verified; the token number is shared.
5. We track processing, check Form 26AS credit and raise corrections if there are defaults.

Timelines depend on completeness of data, complexity of payments and processing by the department.

Government fees, penalties and due dates

Quarter	Period	Due date
Q1	April to June	31 July
Q2	July to September	31 October
Q3	October to December	31 January
Q4	January to March	31 May

Deposit of tax deducted is due by the 7th of the following month; for March it is due by 30 April. For property purchase under Section 194IA, it is within 30 days of the end of the month of deduction.

• Filing online has no government fee; filing through a facilitation centre carries a small per-statement charge.
• Late filing fee under Section 234E: ₹200 per day until filed, capped at the TDS amount of the statement.
• Penalty under Section 271H: ₹10,000 to ₹1 lakh for failing to file within a year or for incorrect details.
• Interest under Section 201(1A): 1% per month for tax not deducted and 1.5% per month for tax deducted but not deposited.
• Expenses may also be disallowed in part where tax is not deducted or deposited.

The department has enabled correction statements for Tax Year 2026-27, and declarations by payees (Form 121 under the new Act) are due by 7 October for the quarter ended September. Form numbers for statements in the new Act can change, so Zenith confirms the form for your quarter.

Amounts and dates above reflect public sources read in October 2026 and change with notifications, so Zenith confirms the current figures in your quotation.

Common mistakes

• Wrong or missing PAN of the deductee.
• Wrong BSR code, date or serial number on the challan.
• Using a wrong nature-of-payment code or section.
• Mismatch between TDS deducted and TDS deposited.
• Filing under the wrong form, for example resident payments in Form 27Q.
• Not reporting lower deduction certificate details.
• Missing quarterly statements because no tax was deducted.
• TAN not activated on the portal before filing.

FAQs