Deducted right, filed on time, defaults cleared
TDS goes wrong quietly: a wrong section, a missing PAN, a payment crossing a threshold nobody was watching. It surfaces months later as a demand with interest, and by then the vendor has moved on.
Deduction now runs under s.393 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 and the certificates under the Income-tax Rules, 2026. The obligations have not changed shape — the numbering has, and a statement filed on a superseded form is a statement not filed.
What this covers
- Deduction review
- Quarterly statements
- Deduction certificates
- Correction statements
What this covers
Deduction review
Payments checked against the right section and rate before they go out, not after.
- Section mapped to each vendor category and payment type
- Thresholds tracked across the year, not judged invoice by invoice
- PAN validated before payment rather than at return time
- Resident and non-resident payments routed separately
Quarterly statements
Statements for salary, resident non-salary, non-resident payments and TCS prepared, validated and filed within the due date.
- Separate statements for salary and non-salary deductions
- Payments to non-residents reported separately
- TCS collections stated where they apply
- Filed under the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered the TDS forms
- Validated before upload, so a rejection does not eat the deadline
Deduction certificates
Form No. 132 issued to employees and vendors on schedule — the certificate under s.395(4) for tax deducted under s.393.
- Issued once the quarterly statement is processed
- Salary certificates assembled with their annexures
- Vendor certificates issued each quarter
- Reissued where a correction changes the figures
- Form No. 132 under the 2026 Rules; Form 16 and 16A for FY 2025-26 and earlier
Correction statements
PAN errors, challan mismatches and short deductions fixed so the demand closes.
- PAN corrections, which are what usually stop credit reaching the deductee
- Unmatched and partly consumed challans traced
- Short deduction and short payment defaults answered
- Revised statements filed and followed to closure
Lower deduction certificates
Applications under s.351 where the standard rate over-withholds your cash flow.
- Application prepared with the computation behind it
- Tracked through the department until issued
- Circulated to deductors, since a certificate nobody applies changes nothing
- Renewed before expiry — it is year-specific
- s.351 of the 2025 Act, formerly s.197
Default resolution
TRACES demands read, reconciled and answered, including interest and late fee computation.
- The justification report read line by line
- Late deduction and late deposit interest computed separately
- Late filing fee identified where it applies
- Demand tracked until it closes, not just responded to
The quarter that catches people out
- the compliance calendar
Quarterly TDS returns are due 31 July, 31 October and 31 January — and then 31 May for the March quarter, two months out rather than one. That fourth date is the one diarised wrong, because the pattern breaks.