TDS & TCS Return Filing
Quarterly TDS and TCS statements prepared and filed on time, with challans matched and PANs validated before submission.
If you deduct tax at source or collect it at source, you file a quarterly statement telling the department who you deducted from, how much, and against which challan. Get it right and your deductees see their credit and nothing more happens. Get it wrong and the cost arrives from three directions at once: a daily fee that runs until you file, interest on anything deposited late, and deductees chasing you because the credit never showed up in their account. AMpuesto prepares and files all four quarterly statements, matches every challan against TRACES, and validates PANs before anything is submitted.
What we need from you
- TAN of the deductor or collector
- PAN of the deductor and of every deductee
- Details of every payment on which tax was deducted or collected
- Challan details for the tax deposited, being the CIN, BSR code, and date
- Salary details and declarations, where you file the salary statement
- Digital signature of the authorised signatory
- Previous quarter's filed statement and any TRACES notices, where the account already exists
What you will get
- Quarterly statement prepared and filed within the due date, on the correct form for the period
- Challan verification against TRACES before filing, so nothing fails at validation
- PAN validation for every deductee, which is where most defaults originate
- Certificates generated from TRACES and issued to your deductees on time
- Correction statements filed where an earlier return needs fixing
- A reminder before every quarterly due date
Applicable forms for TDS & TCS returns
Every quarterly TDS and TCS form has been renumbered under the Income-tax Act, 2025 and the Income-tax Rules, 2026.
| What it covers | Form up to 31 Mar 2026 | Form from 1 Apr 2026 | Certificate issued |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary TDS | 24Q | 138 | Form 130 (was Form 16) |
| Resident non-salary TDS | 26Q | 140 | Form 131 (was Form 16A) |
| Non-resident TDS | 27Q | 144 | Form 131 |
| TCS | 27EQ | 143 | Form 133 (was Form 27D) |
| TDS on property | 26QB | 141, Schedule B | Form 132 (was Form 16B) |
Both form series are live at once, and they must not be mixed
The old forms have not been withdrawn. They stay correct for any statement relating to transactions up to 31 March 2026, whether original, belated, or a correction. So a correction for Q4 of FY 2025-26 still goes on Form 26Q, while Q1 of the current year goes on Form 140.
A single deductor will legitimately file on both series in the same calendar year. The rule to remember is that the governing law follows the period the statement relates to, not the date you file it.
TDS and TCS return due dates
TDS and TCS statements share the same quarterly calendar:
| Quarter | Period | Due date | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | April to June | 31 July | Forms 138, 140, 143, 144 |
| Q2 | July to September | 31 October | Forms 138, 140, 143, 144 |
| Q3 | October to December | 31 January | Forms 138, 140, 143, 144 |
| Q4 | January to March | 31 May | Forms 138, 140, 143, 144 |
This alignment is new. Under the old rules the TCS statement in Form 27EQ ran on its own calendar, falling on the fifteenth of the month after each quarter rather than the last day. Collectors working from an old reminder may think they have already defaulted when they have not, or may treat the extra fortnight as slack rather than a statutory date. Neither is right, and the current date is the last day of the month.
When the tax itself has to be deposited
Filing the statement is the second obligation. Depositing the tax comes first, and the dates are different.
- TDS deducted in any month, other than March: deposit by the 7th of the following month
- TDS deducted in March: deposit by 30 April
- TCS collected in any month: deposit by the 7th of the following month, with no extended March date
- Government deductors paying without a challan: deposit the same day
- TDS on property and similar challan-cum-statement cases: within 30 days from the end of the month of deduction
Certificates you must issue
Once a statement is processed, you issue the certificate to the person you deducted or collected from, within fifteen days of the statement due date. Certificates must be generated from TRACES, and a self-prepared format is not valid. The applicable certificate forms are Form 130 for salary, Form 131 for non-salary and non-resident deductions, and Form 133 for TCS, replacing Forms 16, 16A, and 27D respectively. Once the statement is processed the amounts flow into the deductee's Annual Information Statement, which is how they claim the credit in their own income tax return.
What late filing actually costs
| Default | Charge | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Filing the statement late | ₹200 per day | Cannot exceed the tax deducted or collected, and cannot be waived |
| Not filing, or filing wrong details | ₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000 | Penalty in addition to the daily fee |
| Failing to deduct | 1% a month | From the date tax was deductible to the date it is deducted |
| Deducting but not depositing | 1.5% a month | From the date of deduction to the date of deposit |
Two things people get wrong about the daily fee
The daily fee for late filing is mandatory and no authority can waive it, so it is not something to negotiate later. And the interest for deducting without depositing runs higher than the interest for never deducting at all, which surprises people.
Beyond the money, an unfiled statement means your deductees cannot claim their credit, which is usually how the problem reaches you first.
Who has to file
Anyone who deducts or collects tax at source files quarterly statements. That covers employers deducting on salary, businesses deducting on contractor payments, professional fees, rent, commission, or interest, buyers deducting on property purchases, and sellers collecting TCS on scrap, motor vehicles above the threshold, foreign remittances, and overseas tour packages. Partnership firms and LLPs now also deduct on payments to their own partners, so a firm that never needed a TAN before may need one now.
What is TAN?
TAN is the Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number, a ten-digit number that identifies you as a deductor or collector. Anyone responsible for deducting or collecting tax at source must hold one and quote it on every payment, challan, and statement. It is issued by the Income Tax Department, applied for online, and valid for the life of the entity. Quoting it incorrectly attracts a penalty in its own right. If you have started deducting and do not yet hold a TAN, that is the first thing to fix and we handle the application.
How AMpuesto files your return
You share the data
Send the deduction details, challans, and deductee PANs for the quarter, or give us access to your payroll and accounting records.
We validate first
Challans are matched against TRACES and PANs are verified, because a mismatch here is what turns into a demand notice later.
We prepare the statement
The return is drafted on the correct form for the period, and we confirm the figures with you before filing.
We file and confirm
The statement is submitted within the due date and the acknowledgment comes back to you.
Certificates issued
Once processed, we generate the certificates from TRACES and provide them for your deductees.
Corrections handled
If a defect or short-payment notice arrives, we file the correction statement and close it out.
Correction statements
If an original statement has been processed and you spot an error, you file a correction rather than a fresh return. The usual causes are a wrong PAN, a challan that does not match, an incorrect deduction amount, or a deductee left out altogether. A missing deductee can be added through a correction, and that is not treated as a separate return. Filing the correction before a TRACES demand is generated is far simpler than answering the notice afterwards, so it is worth reviewing each quarter rather than waiting.
What TDS and TCS return filing costs
Scales with volumeThe work scales with the number of deductees and challans in the quarter, so a small firm filing one statement with a handful of entries costs considerably less than a company running salary, contractor, and rent deductions across several hundred records. Correction statements and TAN applications are priced separately.
Why file through a Chartered Accountant
TDS and TCS defaults rarely come from the filing itself. They come from an unmatched challan, an invalid PAN, or a statement filed on the wrong form for the period, and each of those surfaces months later as a TRACES demand with interest attached.
We also handle your GST returns and income tax return, and our virtual CFO services cover payroll, bookkeeping, and monthly reporting through the year.
Frequently asked questions
What is the TCS return due date?
What is the TDS return due date?
Which form do I file for TCS?
Have the TDS forms changed?
What happened to Form 16 and Form 16A?
Can I use the old forms?
What is the penalty for filing a TDS return late?
When must TDS be deposited?
When do I issue the TDS certificate?
What is TAN and do I need one?
What if I filed with a wrong PAN or challan?
Do I have to file if there were no deductions in a quarter?
File this quarter without the follow-up notice
Send us your challans and deductee details. We validate everything against TRACES, file on the correct form, and issue the certificates.
Get a quote