Expert verified
| TL;DR Summary: |
| TDS return due dates for FY 2025-26: Q1 – July 31, Q2 – Oct 31, Q3 – Jan 31, Q4 – May 31.File Form 24Q for salaries, Form 26Q for resident non-salary payments, and Form 27Q for non-resident payments.Late filing fee under Section 234E is Rs. 200 per day. The fee starts the day after the due date.Penalty under Section 271H for non-filing ranges from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 1,00,000.Common errors like PAN mismatches, incorrect challan details, and wrong section codes trigger defect notices.Always reconcile TDS deducted with TDS deposited before filing. Check challan details on the TRACES portal.Professional support from PKC Management Consulting helps you meet TDS return due dates and avoid penalties. |
The cost of missing your TDS return due date begins from the very first day. No buffer, no reminder before penalties apply, and no way to reverse the charges once they start.
This PKC guide walks you through the TDS return filing quarterly. We cover quarter-wise due dates for the current year, which form applies to your business, how late fees and penalties are calculated, the errors that trigger defect notices, and how to reconcile your TDS data before you file.
TDS Return Due Dates for FY 2025-26 – Quarter-Wise Table
If you deduct tax at source (TDS) on salaries, professional fees, rent, contractor payments, or payments to non-residents, you’re required to file a quarterly TDS return.
Each quarter has its own fixed due date, and this holds true regardless of the form you use: 24Q, 26Q, or 27Q.
For FY 2025-26 (Assessment Year 2026-27), here are your TDS return filing quarterly deadlines:
| Quarter | Period | Due Date (24Q, 26Q, 27Q) |
| Q1 | April – June 2025 | 31st July 2025 |
| Q2 | July – September 2025 | 31st October 2025 |
| Q3 | October – December 2025 | 31st January 2026 |
| Q4 | January – March 2026 | 31st May 2026 |
The due dates above apply uniformly across 24Q, 26Q, and 27Q for each quarter. You don’t need to track different deadlines for different forms within the same quarter. The complexity lies in choosing the right form, not the timing.
Also, these dates apply regardless of whether you deducted any TDS in a particular quarter. You still need to file a NIL return. Many businesses skip this and land in trouble. A NIL return means no tax deducted but you still must report it.
The due date changes when the last day falls on a public holiday or bank holiday. The CBDT usually issues a notification extending the deadline in such cases.
TDS Deposit Vs TDS Return Filing Due Date
Your TDS return filing due date is separate from your TDS deposit due date, and mixing the two up is one of the most common compliance issues.
TDS must be deposited with the government by the 7th of the month following deduction. For tax deducted in March, the deposit deadline is extended to 30th April.
Filing the return happens once a quarter. The return consolidates every monthly deposit made during that quarter and reports it against each deductee’s PAN.
Both deadlines are important, and missing either one triggers separate consequences.
Exception:
TDS on property purchases under Section 194-IA is reported through Form 26QB, not through the quarterly forms. Form 26QB has to be filed within 30 days from the end of the month in which TDS was deducted, and there’s no separate quarterly return required for it.
TIP: Set internal reminders at least two weeks before each due date. Your accounts team needs that buffer to reconcile challans against deductee records, since last-minute filing is where most PAN mismatches and challan errors creep in.
Form 24Q vs. 26Q vs. 27Q – Which One Does Your Business File?
Most businesses file more than one of these forms. The form depends on who you’re paying and what you’re paying for, not on your industry or size.
| Your Payment Type | Form to File |
| Employee salaries | Form 24Q |
| Resident professional fees, rent, contracts | Form 26Q |
| Non-resident payments | Form 27Q |
Form 24Q
This covers TDS deducted on salary payments to employees under Section 192. You need to file it even if you have just one employee on your payroll. It requires employee-wise details including PAN, salary structure, exemptions claimed, deductions under Chapter VI-A, and the final tax computed.
Form 24Q has two annexures – Annexure I for salary details and Annexure II for the challan-wise summary.
The Q4 filing of Form 24Q also includes annexure details used to generate Form 16 for your employees, so accuracy here directly affects what your staff can claim in their personal income tax returns.
Form 26Q
It applies to TDS deducted on payments to residents other than salary. This is the form most businesses interact with most often, since it covers professional fees, contractor/ vendor payments, rent, interest, commission, and brokerage.
If you’re paying a vendor, a consultant, or a landlord and deducting tax at source, this is your form. If professional fee payments are a big share of your 26Q filings, our detailed breakdown of TDS on professional fees covers the exact threshold and rate to apply under Section 194J.
Form 27Q
This is for TDS deducted on payments made to non-residents and foreign companies. This covers royalties, technical service fees, interest, and other sums chargeable under the Income Tax Act.
If your business works with overseas vendors, consultants, or licensors and deducts tax under Section 195 or related provisions, you file 27Q.
The reporting requirements are stricter here because treaty benefits and withholding rates vary by country and tax treaty.
A single business can and often does file all three in the same quarter. A manufacturing company paying salaries, domestic contractors, and a foreign technical consultant would file 24Q, 26Q, and 27Q for that quarter, three separate returns, same due date.
Choosing the wrong form is a recurring problem.
Filing salary TDS details in 26Q, or reporting a resident vendor payment in 27Q, doesn’t just get rejected, it can lead to the deductee not receiving credit for tax already deducted, which creates disputes and follow-up correction filings.
Before filing, confirm each payment type and deductee’s residency status to avoid many post-deadline correction filings.
Late Filing Fee Under Section 234E – How It’s Calculated
Section 234E imposes a late filing fee for delayed TDS return submission. It’s ₹200 for every day your TDS return remains unfiled after the due date.
The fee starts accruing from the day immediately after your due date and continues until the date you actually file. It’s capped at the total TDS or TCS amount deducted for that quarter. The fee can never exceed what you deducted, no matter how long the delay runs.
Example:
Say you deducted ₹15,000 in TDS for Q2 FY 2025–26, with a return due date of 31 October 2025. If you file the return on 15 December 2025, it is 45 days late.
Late filing fee calculation:
- Delay: 45 days
- Fee: 45 × ₹200 = ₹9,000
- Maximum fee allowed: ₹15,000 (cannot exceed the TDS amount)
Late filing fee payable: ₹9,000 (since it is below the ₹15,000 cap).
Now assume a smaller deduction. If your Q2 TDS was only ₹5,000 and you’re 45 days late, the calculated fee would be ₹9,000, but since that exceeds your TDS amount, you pay ₹5,000, the cap kicks in.
Important: The fee is Rs. 200 per day, not per return. If you need to file three returns (Form 24Q, 26Q, 27Q) and delay all of them, you pay Rs. 600 per day in total.
The fee is calculated automatically by the income tax portal when you file. You can’t adjust or negotiate it. The system computes the delay period from the due date to the filing date and adds the fee to your challan.
Before filing your TDS return, you must pay the late fee along with the TDS due using the appropriate challan. Until then, the return won’t be processed, delaying your deductees’ Form 26AS updates and potentially their income tax filing.
Penalty for Non-Filing Under Section 271H
While Section 234E gives you a daily fee, Section 271H penalizes you for not filing at all or filing with inaccurate information.
The penalty range under Section 271H is Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 1,00,000. The exact amount depends on the Assessing Officer’s discretion. They consider factors like:
- Whether you filed the return at all
- How late you filed
- Whether you had reasonable cause for the delay
- Your history of compliance
- The amount of tax deducted
Unlike Section 234E, this penalty is a lump sum decided at the officer’s discretion, not a per-day calculation.
It’s also not automatic.
The assessing officer generally issues a show-cause notice before deciding whether to impose it, and can choose not to if you have a reasonable explanation.
Section 271H doesn’t apply if three conditions are met together:
- You’ve deposited the TDS or TCS to the government’s credit
- You’ve paid the late filing fee and any applicable interest
- You file the return before the expiry of one year from the due date.
Meet all three, and the penalty usually won’t be levied, even though you were technically late.
Also, if you can demonstrate a genuine and reasonable cause for the delay or the error like a documented technical failure on the government portal, no penalty applies under Section 271H, regardless of how long the delay ran.
In most cases, penalty is levied on businesses that go beyond a year without filing at all, and businesses whose returns contain deductee-level errors serious enough to distort tax credit.
Also, Section 271H penalties are separate from the late filing fee under Section 234E. You can’t offset one against the other. If you delay filing, you pay the daily fee. If you never file, you potentially pay both the fee and the penalty.
Recent amendments have made Section 271H stricter for repeat offenders. If you’ve been penalized under this section in the past three years, you face higher penalties and more scrutiny.
Common Errors That Trigger a TDS Return Defect Notice
A TDS return defect notice usually means that the return filed with the Income Tax Department contains inconsistencies or missing information.
The most common errors include:
PAN Mismatches and Missing PAN Details
Incorrect or incomplete PAN details are a leading cause of TDS defaults. The PAN and deductee name must exactly match the income tax records, as even minor spelling differences can cause errors.
Where the deductee’s PAN is unavailable or invalid, tax may need to be deducted at a higher rate under Section 206AA. Failure to do so can result in short-deduction notices and prevent the deductee from claiming tax credit.
Incorrect Challan Information
TDS returns are matched against challan data maintained by banks and the NSDL system. Errors in the challan number, BSR code, deposit date, or amount often lead to defects.
A common mistake is entering the payment date instead of the actual challan processing date. Businesses should reconcile challans before filing each quarter.
Wrong TDS Section or Rate
Every payment category falls under a specific provision of the Income-tax Act. For example:
- Section 194C applies to contractors.
- Section 194H applies to commission payments.
- Section 194I applies to rent.
Using the wrong section code or TDS rate can lead to short-deduction notices. These errors often occur when mid-year rate changes or lower-deduction certificates are overlooked.
Short Deduction and Short Payment
The Centralised Processing Cell (CPC-TDS) automatically compares the tax reported in the return with the amount actually deposited.
Two common defaults:
- Short deduction: The tax deducted is lower than the amount legally required.
- Short payment: The TDS reported in the return does not match the challan amount deposited.
Even small allocation errors across deductees can trigger these notices.
Interest for Late Deduction and Late Payment
The Income Tax Department automatically calculates interest for delays:
- Late deduction: Interest at 1% per month from the date tax was deductible until the date it is deducted.
- Late payment: Interest at 1.5% per month from the deduction date until the deposit date.
Since interest is calculated for every month or part of a month, even a short delay can increase the liability.
Salary Reporting and Certificate Errors
For employers filing Form 24Q, inconsistencies in salary break-ups, allowances, exemptions, or perquisites may trigger defects. Incorrect Form 16 or Form 16A details can also create reconciliation issues later.
In addition, businesses filing with a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) should ensure that the certificate is valid and correctly linked to the authorised signatory’s PAN.
When you receive a default notice and believe your filing was correct, download the Justification Report for that financial year, form, and quarter from TRACES.
It breaks down exactly which entries the system flagged and why, which is far more useful than trying to re-check the entire return manually.
How to Reconcile TDS Deducted vs. TDS Deposited Before Filing
TDS reconciliation is one of the most important steps before filing a TDS return. Most defect notices, short-payment demands, and correction filings can be traced back to errors that proper reconciliation would have caught.
Spending a few hours reviewing your records before the due date can save weeks of follow-up later:
Step 1: Review Your Books of Accounts
Start with your books. Pull every TDS deduction entry recorded during the quarter, organised by deductee PAN, section code, and payment date. This forms the basis of your reconciliation exercise.
Your report should include:
- Deductee name and PAN
- Nature of payment and section code
- Gross payment amount
- TDS rate applied
- Tax deducted
- Date of deduction
- Date of payment
Step 2: Match Your Challan Details
Next, download your challan details from TRACES or your bank records. Verify the following information:
- Challan number
- BSR code
- Date of deposit
- Amount deposited
- TAN used for payment
Every TDS deduction recorded in your books should have a corresponding challan. Differences in the challan amount, deposit date, or section code can later trigger short-payment notices.
Step 3: Cross-Check With TRACES
Download the relevant statement from the TRACES portal and compare it against your books and challans.
Pay special attention to unconsumed challan balances, which occur when a single challan covers multiple deductees but has not been allocated correctly.
If challan mapping is incomplete, the return may show a short-payment default even though the tax has already been deposited.
Step 4: Reverify PANs and TDS Rates
Before filing, confirm that deductee PAN details are accurate and up to date. PAN mismatches remain one of the most common reasons for defective returns.
You should also review the TDS rates applied under each section, especially if there have been rate changes during the financial year or if lower-deduction certificates have been used.
Common Reconciliation Issues
Businesses frequently encounter the following problems:
- TDS deducted but not yet deposited.
- Challans allocated to the wrong financial year or quarter.
- One challan incorrectly split across multiple deductees.
- Wrong TAN used while depositing tax.
- TDS reversals due to cancelled invoices or refunds.
- Mismatches between deductee-level data and challan totals.
Remember that the due date for depositing TDS is different from the due date for filing the TDS return. In most cases, TDS must be deposited by the 7th of the following month, while TDS deducted in March can be deposited up to 30 April.
Why Timely Reconciliation Is Crucial
Completing reconciliation before the filing deadline gives you time to fix genuine errors, deposit any shortfall, and avoid unnecessary compliance costs.
A proper reconciliation process helps prevent:
- Defective TDS returns.
- Interest on delayed deposits.
- Short-payment and short-deduction demands.
- Correction filings and notices from the Income Tax Department.
- Compliance issues on the TRACES portal.
The best time to identify a discrepancy is before filing, not after receiving a notice. A structured reconciliation process ensures that the tax deducted in your books matches the tax deposited and reported to the department.
PKC’s TDS Compliance & Return Filing Support
Quarterly TDS compliance is a recurring operational load, and getting it wrong is expensive. The late fees, discretionary penalties, and interest on short deduction or short payment defaults, all stack on top of each other if a single quarter goes unmanaged.
This is one piece of the broader compliance work our tax advisory services handle for clients across quarters, not just at filing time. At PKC Management Consulting, we understand these complexities and offer end-to-end TDS compliance solutions that are customized to your business size and transaction volume.
Services we offer include:
- Deduction calculation and application of correct rates
- Challan preparation and TDS deposit management
- Monthly/quarterly reconciliation of deducted vs. deposited TDS
- Return preparation and filing for Form 24Q, 26Q, 27Q
- Form 16 and Form 16A generation and distribution
- Issue resolution for defect notices and departmental queries
- Advisory on non-resident withholding and treaty benefits
Our reconciliation process uses advanced tools to match your books with challan data from the TRACES portal. We identify discrepancies before filing, preventing defective returns and the resulting notices.
For businesses with multiple TANs or complex payment structures, PKC creates a customized TDS compliance calendar. The calendar marks every important date that include deposit deadlines, return due dates, and certificate issuance timelines.
We also handle scrutiny assessments and departmental notices related to TDS. If you receive a notice under Section 271H or Section 234E, our team prepares the response and represents you before the tax authorities.
PKC regularly conducts TDS health checks for businesses. We review your current process, identify gaps, and recommend improvements. This proactive service catches issues before they become problems.
For new businesses setting up their TDS systems, PKC provides guidance on:
- TAN registration
- Deduction mechanism setup in accounting software
- Employee/vendor PAN collection
- Return filing procedures
Understanding your business’s specific needs, we offer both full-service compliance and specific task support. You can engage our experts for the entire TDS compliance cycle or for specific components like quarterly return filing or notice handling.
Our approach is practical and results-driven. Our advice is clear and actionable.
FAQs
Q1: What is the due date for filing the Q1 TDS return for FY 2025-26?
The Q1 TDS return for FY 2025-26, covering April to June 2025, is due on 31st July 2025. This deadline applies uniformly to Forms 24Q, 26Q, and 27Q. Filing after this date triggers a Section 234E late fee of ₹200 per day, calculated from 1st August 2025 until your actual filing date.
Q2: What is the difference between Form 24Q and Form 26Q?
Form 24Q reports TDS deducted on salary payments to employees under Section 192, including employee-wise salary and deduction details. Form 26Q reports TDS on non-salary payments to residents, such as professional fees, rent, contractor payments, and interest. Most businesses with both payroll and vendor payments file both forms every quarter.
Q3: What is the late filing fee under Section 234E?
Section 234E charges ₹200 for every day of delay in filing your TDS return, starting the day after your due date. This fee is mandatory, computed automatically, and cannot be waived for any reason. It’s capped at the total TDS amount deducted for that quarter, so it can never exceed what you deducted.
Q4: What happens if TDS is deducted but the return is not filed?
You face the Section 234E late fee of ₹200 per day, capped at your quarterly TDS amount. If the delay extends beyond a year, or if the Assessing Officer finds the failure unjustified, you may also face a Section 271H penalty ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000. Your deductees also won’t receive tax credit in Form 26AS until you file.
Q5: Can a TDS return be revised after filing?
Yes. If you spot an error after filing- wrong PAN, incorrect challan details, or a missing deductee entry- you file a correction statement through TRACES using the Return Preparation Utility. Correction types range from C1 through C9, each addressing a specific category of error, and the correct type must match the error to avoid rejection.
Q6: Who is required to file a quarterly TDS return?
Any person or business that deducts tax at source on payments like salary, professional fees, rent, contractor payments, or interest must file a quarterly TDS return. This includes companies, partnership firms, proprietorships, and individuals or HUFs whose accounts are subject to tax audit. The applicable form depends on the nature of the payment and the deductee’s residency status.
