Anyone who has ever filed an income tax return knows the small fear of a mismatch notice. After claiming a TDS credit, the department’s records show an error, and all of a sudden you’re chasing a bank or employer for a fix that should have been discovered weeks before. Form 168, which has replaced the previous Annual Information Statement under the Income Tax Act, 2025, is the document that helps identify this before it becomes a notice as of April 1st, 2026.

What Form 168 Actually Is

Form 168 is prescribed under Rule 245 of the Income Tax Rules, 2026, and uploaded under Section 510 of the new Act. It’s an auto-generated statement sitting in your registered e-filing account, pulling together TDS and TCS entries, specified financial transactions, tax payments, refunds, demands, and details of pending or completed proceedings. You don’t prepare or file it yourself; the department generates it based on what employers, banks, and other reporting entities submit against your PAN.

For anyone used to the older AIS, the shift is largely one of name and legal basis rather than function. AIS continues for periods governed by the 1961 Act, up to Assessment Year 2026-27, while Form 168 takes over from Tax Year 2026-27 onwards. TDS deducted in March 2026 still shows up in the older AIS. Anything deducted from April 2026 flows into Form 168 instead.

How to Reconcile TDS Entries

Reconciliation really comes down to comparing what Form 168 shows against what you already know from your own paperwork. A few practical steps make this easier:

• Pull every TDS or TCS certificate you’ve received during the year, whether from an employer, a bank, a tenant, or a property buyer.
• Match each certificate’s deducted amount and deposit date against the corresponding entry in Form 168.
• Check that the PAN, the Tax Year, and the nature of payment listed in Form 168 line up correctly with your own records
• Flag any TDS you know was deducted but doesn’t appear in the statement yet, since reporting entities upload information within 90 days of receiving it, not instantly.

A gap here often points to a delay on the deductor’s side rather than an error on your part, but it still needs chasing before you file your return, since an unreflected credit simply can’t be claimed.

What to Do When Something Doesn’t Match

If an entry looks wrong, the fix has to happen at the source. Contacting the employer, bank, or other deductor and asking them to correct their original TDS statement is the only way the figure in Form 168 actually changes. Typing a different number directly into your return doesn’t correct the underlying record, and it can create exactly the kind of mismatch that draws a notice later. Keep your certificates and bank statements on hand while this gets sorted, since you’ll likely need to show them to the deductor or, if it comes to it, to the department.

Conclusion

Form 168 provides you with a single spot to verify whether the TDS you anticipate matches what the department has on file; nevertheless, it is best used as a starting point for verification rather than a definitive response. By going over your certificates line by line, identifying any gaps early, and sending revisions back to the source before submitting, you can transform what could have been a stressful notice later into a routine check now.

Paying TDS on time has always been part of running a compliant business, but the process changed significantly from 1st April 2026. With the Income Tax Act, 2025, now in force, the income tax portal introduced a new challan system, complete with a fresh Act selection screen, new challan forms, and revised steps. If you’re still following the old routine, you might get stuck or generate a challan under the wrong act. This guide explains how to properly create a TDS challan under the new system.

Before You Start

Make sure you have the following ready before logging in:

• Your TAN and portal login credentials
• The deductee’s PAN details
• The exact TDS amount, along with any interest or late fee, if applicable
• A stable internet connection and an updated browser

Logging in with your TAN is recommended over the login-free “Quick Links” route, since it keeps a proper record of your payment history on the portal.

Steps to Generate the Challan

Once you’re ready, follow these steps on the income tax e-filing portal:

1. Log in using your TAN and password, then go to the Dashboard.
2. Click on e-File, then select e-Pay Tax. This takes you to the Act Selection screen.
3. Choose the applicable act. Select the Income Tax Act, 2025, for any transaction where TDS was deducted or credited on or after 1st April 2026. If the deduction relates to March 2026 or earlier, select Income Tax Act, 1961, instead, and use the older challan form.
4. Click Continue, then select New Payment on the e-Pay Tax page to start a fresh challan.
5. Pick the correct tax year. For transactions from April 2026 onwards, this will be Tax Year 2026-27.
6. Click Proceed on the Pay TDS/TCS tile. You’ll then reach the Select Deductee Type screen, where you choose the relevant major head and the deductee’s residential status.
7. Select the applicable section (392, 393, or 394) and the specific payment code that matches your transaction, along with the TDS rate.
8. Enter the deductee’s PAN, the payment amount, the TDS amount, and any interest or late fee that applies.
9. Choose your payment method, such as net banking, RTGS or NEFT, a debit card, or UPI, and complete the transaction.

After Payment

Once the payment goes through, a Challan Reference Number gets generated, and you can download the receipt right away. This receipt carries the BSR code and challan serial number, both of which you’ll need later when filing your quarterly TDS return. It’s a good habit to check your Payment History tab periodically to confirm the challan reflects correctly, and to verify the deductee’s PAN status beforehand, since an inoperative PAN attracts a higher TDS rate.

Keep in mind that mixing old-Act and new-Act transactions on a single challan won’t work. If you have payments falling under both periods, generate separate challans for each.

Conclusion

Generating a TDS challan under the new system isn’t complicated once you know where the Act selection screen sits and which payment code applies to your transaction. Taking a few extra minutes to pick the right Act, Tax Year, and section keeps your challan valid and your quarterly return free of errors. As more businesses get used to this routine, it will start to feel just as familiar as the old process once did.

A tenant paying rent above a certain threshold has always carried one extra responsibility beyond just paying the landlord on time. They had to deduct tax at source, deposit it with the government, and hand over a certificate proving it. That certificate used to be Form 16C. Since 1st April 2026, under the Income Tax Act, 2025, it is known as Form 132.

What Form 132 Actually Replaces

Form 132 isn’t a straight swap for Form 16C alone. It’s a consolidated certificate issued under Section 395(4) of the Income Tax Act, 2025, merging four older certificates into one, Form 16B for property transactions, Form 16C for rent, Form 16D for contractor and professional payments, and Form 16E for virtual digital asset transfers. A tenant issuing this certificate now uses the same form number a property buyer or a crypto trader would use, just for a different schedule of the corresponding filing.

For rent, the certificate ties back to Schedule A of Form 141, the challan-cum-statement that also replaced the older Form 26QC. The tenant deducts TDS, files Form 141 under Schedule A, and once that filing is processed, Form 132 gets generated to hand over to the landlord.

Who Needs to Issue It and When

The obligation applies to individuals and HUFs not liable to a tax audit, paying monthly rent above Rs 50,000 to a resident landlord. Two things are worth flagging here, since they haven’t changed even though the paperwork has:

• The TDS rate on this rent is 2 percent, a figure that came down from 5 percent back in October 2024, and it carries forward unchanged into the new Act.
• If the landlord doesn’t share their PAN, the deduction rate jumps to 20 percent instead.

Once TDS is deducted and deposited through Form 141, Form 132 must be issued within 15 days from the due date of that filing. This certificate can only be generated through the TRACES portal, so a document handed over outside that system isn’t considered valid proof.

What This Means in Practice

A tenant paying Rs 60,000 a month in rent still deducts 2 percent of the annual rent, deposits it through Form 141, and then generates Form 132 to give the landlord. The landlord uses this certificate to claim credit for the tax already deducted when filing their own return. If anything on the certificate needs correcting, the tenant has to file a revised statement first, and only then can an updated Form 132 be generated, there’s no separate correction process for the certificate on its own.

Missing the deadline to issue this certificate still carries a penalty, Rs 200 for every day of delay under the provision that replaced the older Section 234E framework. This makes timely filing just as important now as it was under the old system, even though the form name has changed.

Conclusion

Form 132 folds what used to be four separate certificates into one, which genuinely simplifies things for anyone dealing with property, rent, contractor payments, or crypto transactions across different years. For tenants specifically, the deduction rate, the threshold, and the underlying obligation remain exactly as before; only the certificate’s name and its route through Form 141 have shifted. Getting comfortable with this new pairing, one filing followed by one certificate, is really all that’s needed to stay compliant going forward.

For years, a mismatched PAN or a wrongly entered challan number in a TDS return wasn’t something deductors lost sleep over. There was always time to go back and fix it, sometimes years later. That comfort disappeared on 1st April 2026. Under the Income Tax Act, 2025, correction statements for TDS and TCS returns can now only be filed within two years from the end of the tax year in which the original statement was due. What used to be a six-year window has shrunk considerably, and understanding exactly how this works matters for anyone still holding onto old, uncorrected filings.

Why the Window Got Shorter

The earlier system let deductors revise a TDS return almost indefinitely, and in practice, corrections often came in two, three, or even five years after the original filing. This created its own set of problems, unresolved mismatches lingering for years, deductees stuck without proper credit, and a backlog that made audits harder to conduct cleanly. Section 397(3)(f) of the new Act addresses this by setting a firm two-year cutoff, counted from the end of the tax year in which the original statement was due.

The change isn’t just a policy preference sitting in guidance notes, it’s now written directly into law, replacing the earlier six-year practice that existed under the 1961 Act.

How This Affects Older Returns

The transition carries a real deadline that deductors needed to act on before 31st March 2026. Correction statements for the following periods were only accepted up to that date:

• Q4 of FY 2018-19
• All quarters of FY 2019-20 through FY 2022-23
• Q1 to Q3 of FY 2023-24

From 1st April 2026 onwards, none of these can be corrected anymore. They’re considered time-barred, and TRACES simply won’t process a correction request for them, no matter how small or genuine the error.

The rule moves forward on a rolling basis. During the period from April 2026 to March 2027, corrections are allowed only from Q4 of FY 2023-24 onwards. Once April 2027 arrives, the earliest year eligible for correction shifts again, to Q4 of FY 2024-25. Each passing year quietly closes the door on one more year’s worth of filings.

What Happens If a Correction Is Missed

Letting the two-year window lapse isn’t a minor inconvenience. A few consequences follow directly:

• Deductees may be stuck with unresolved mismatches, which can delay or block their tax credit
• Penalties ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,00,000 can apply, depending on how serious the underlying default is
• Uncorrected statements increase exposure during tax audits, since there’s no longer a route to fix them later

None of this is retroactively fixable once the window closes, which is precisely the point of the change. The earlier flexibility is gone, and accuracy now needs to happen closer to the time of filing rather than being patched up years down the line.

Conclusion

Instead of depending on an uncontrolled safety net, the two-year correction window encourages TDS compliance to do things right the first time. Deductors who are waiting on old, unfixed mistakes from previous years have already missed the opportunity to correct a number of them, and the ones that are still fixable will close on a fixed annual cycle. The only practical method to stay ahead of this transition is to include a routine reconciliation and check PANs, challans and deductee details long before the two-year deadline.

Anyone who has bought property, paid rent above a certain amount, hired a contractor without a TAN, or sold a virtual digital asset knows how scattered TDS compliance used to be. Four forms, 26QB, 26QC, 26QD, and 26QE, each handled a different transaction. From 1st April 2026, the Income Tax Act, 2025 replaced all four with a single form, Form 141.

What Form 141 Does

Form 141 is a challan-cum-statement, combining tax payment and reporting into one step. It’s filed under Section 393(1) of the Income Tax Act, 2025, and is entirely PAN-based, so deductors don’t need a TAN to file it. This suits its audience well, since it’s mainly meant for individuals and HUFs not otherwise required to hold a TAN.

Filers now select the schedule matching their transaction, instead of choosing between four different forms:

• Schedule A, TDS on rent paid to a resident landlord, where monthly rent exceeds Rs 50,000
• Schedule B, TDS on purchasing immovable property from a resident seller, where the value exceeds Rs 50 lakh
• Schedule C, TDS on payments to contractors or professionals by individuals or HUFs not covered under regular TDS filing
• Schedule D, TDS on specified virtual digital asset transactions, such as crypto transfers

Each schedule replaces one of the earlier forms, but the underlying TDS rates and thresholds haven’t changed. This is purely a filing and structural reform.

How to File Form 141

Filing happens entirely online. The general path is to log in using your PAN, go to e-File, then e-Pay Tax, select Income Tax Act, 2025, choose New Payment, and pick Form 141. From there, select the relevant schedule and enter the deductor’s and deductee’s PAN, the transaction value, the date of payment or credit, and the TDS amount.

One useful feature is that a single filing can now cover multiple parties of the same status. If a property has more than one seller, or a rented property has more than one landlord, all of them can be reported in one filing with percentage-wise allocation, rather than filing separately for each pairing as the old system required.

The due date remains the same as before, thirty days from the end of the month in which TDS was deducted. A deduction made in April 2026 needs filing and payment by 31st May 2026. A single Form 141 can only cover deductees sharing the same month of deduction, if the month differs, separate filings are needed.

What Changed Beyond the Form Number

Along with the consolidation, a few related changes matter. The TDS certificate tenants used to issue after filing Form 26QC, earlier called Form 16C, is now called Form 132. Correction of a filed Form 141 is possible, though not through the regular e-filing portal correction flow used for other returns. The new form also includes prefilled details and validation checks meant to catch common errors, such as PAN mismatches, before submission.

Conclusion

Form 141 brings four previously disconnected filings under one roof, which should reduce the friction individuals and HUFs face when dealing with property, rent, contractors, or crypto-related TDS. The rates and thresholds for each transaction type stay the same, so the real change lies in a simpler filing path and fewer repeated submissions for transactions involving multiple parties. Getting familiar with the right schedule for your transaction is the main thing to get right under this new system.

Over the past few months, payroll systems in India have been adjusted to a new quarterly TDS statement by employers. Form 138 under the Income Tax Act, 2025 has taken the place of Form 24Q, the return used for years to report tax deducted from employee pay, as of April 1st, 2026. The form’s number, underlying section, and a few procedural specifics have changed, but its intent has remained the same. What payroll teams and employers should know about this change is as follows.

What Form 138 Is Used For

Form 138 is a quarterly statement filed by any employer, whether a company, firm, government body, or individual, who deducts tax from employees’ salaries under Section 392 of the Income Tax Act, 2025. It also covers specified banks that deduct tax on pension and interest income paid to specified senior citizens. This second use is new territory that Form 24Q didn’t formally carry, since senior citizen pension and interest reporting now sit within the same form.

Form 138 is filed electronically through the Income Tax e-Filing portal using the prescribed TDS return preparation and validation utilities. After successful validation, the accepted statement is transmitted to TRACES for further processing. Not every annexure is required every time. Annexure I goes with all four quarterly filings, while Annexure II and Annexure III, which cover the detailed annual salary or pension summary, get submitted only with the fourth quarter statement. This annual data eventually feeds into Form 130, the certificate that has replaced Form 16 for employees.

How the Due Dates and Filing Process Work

The quarterly due dates for Form 138 follow the same familiar pattern that Form 24Q used:

• Q1 (April to June): 31st July of the tax year
• Q2 (July to September): 31st October of the tax year
• Q3 (October to December): 31st January of the tax year
• Q4 (January to March): 31st May of the year following the tax year

Once submitted, Form 138 can’t be edited directly. If an error needs fixing, whether a wrong PAN, an incorrect amount, or any other detail, the employer must file a correction statement after the original return has been processed by CPC-TDS. This correction window runs for two years from the end of the tax year in which the statement was due. After successful filing, the portal issues an Acknowledgement Receipt Number as proof of submission.

Key Differences from Form 24Q

While the core reporting stays the same, a few things set Form 138 apart from its predecessor:

• The governing section has moved from Section 192 of the old Act to Section 392 of the Income Tax Act, 2025
• Terminology has shifted from “Assessment Year” and “Financial Year” to “Tax Year” throughout the form
• Specified senior citizen pension and interest reporting is now built into the same form, rather than handled separately
• Currency references now use the rupee symbol instead of “Rs.” across the document
• Late filing and non-compliance attract penalties under Sections 427, 461, and 465(2)(g) of the new Act, replacing the older penalty provisions

Timely and accurate filing remains just as important as before. It ensures employees receive proper TDS credit reflected in their records, and it protects employers from the legal exposure that comes with late or inaccurate returns.

Conclusion

Form 138 carries forward everything. Form 24Q was meant to do, reporting salary TDS accurately and on time, while adding a cleaner structure, updated terminology, and expanded coverage for senior citizen income. Employers who update their payroll processes now, align with the new section references, and keep the annexure requirements straight will find the quarterly filing routine just as manageable as it always was.

According to Indian law, a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) is a distinct group made up of people who share a common ancestor, as well as their spouses and unmarried daughters. The Income Tax Act of 2025 treats it as a distinct taxable unit. An HUF is a helpful tool for tax planning and collective asset management since it can combine family assets and possess ancestral property.

Determining the Residential Status of HUF

The tax liability of an HUF depends on its residential status in a financial year. An HUF may be:

• Resident in India
• Non-resident in India

A resident HUF is further classified as the following:

• Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR)
• Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR)

The HUF is ordinarily resident if the Karta (head of family) satisfies the residency criteria under Section 6 of the Act: having been a resident in India for at least two of the ten preceding years and staying in India for at least 730 days during the previous seven years. If either condition is unmet, the HUF is RNOR. A resident HUF is taxed on its global income; a non-resident HUF is taxed only on income that accrues, arises, or is received in India.

Calculation of Income

An HUF’s income is computed under four primary heads

1. Income from House Property
2. Profits and Gains from Business or Profession
3. Capital Gains
4. Income from Other Sources

The total income of the HUF is aggregated across these heads. Clubbing provisions under Section 151 (formerly 64) apply if a member transfers assets to the HUF without adequate consideration; such income may be taxed in the hands of the transferor rather than the HUF. Losses can be set off intra-head and inter-head as permitted, and unabsorbed losses may be carried forward.

Deductions and Regimes

After computing Gross Total Income (GTI), the HUF may claim allowable deductions (such as those under Section 123, formerly 80C) to arrive at total income, provided the HUF opts for the old tax regime. If the HUF remains in the default new tax regime under Section 202, most of these deductions are not available

Tax Rates Applicable to HUF (Tax Year 2025)

Old Tax Regime

Total Income (₹)	Tax Rate
Up to 2,50,000	Nil
2,50,001 – 5,00,000	5%
5,00,001 – 10,00,000	20%
Above 10,00,000	30%

New Tax Regime (Section 202 – Default)

Total Income (₹)	Tax Rate
Up to 4,00,000	Nil
4,00,001 – 8,00,000	5%
8,00,001 – 12,00,000	10%
12,00,001 – 16,00,000	15%
16,00,001 – 20,00,000	20%
20,00,001 – 24,00,000	25%
Above 24,00,000	30%

Important Note on Rebates:

Unlike individuals, an HUF is not eligible for the tax rebate under Section 87A. Even if the HUF income is below ₹12 lakh under the new regime, tax will be payable as per the slabs.

Surcharge, Cess, and AMT

If income surpasses ₹50 lakh, a surcharge is applied; under the current regime, the rate is limited at 25%. The overall tax plus surcharge is subject to a 4% health and education cess. An HUF is subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax under Section 206 if it claims certain investment-linked deductions and its regular tax is less than 18.5% of its adjusted total income.

Conclusion

For families, HUF taxes still provide a special “extra slab” benefit. Now that the Income Tax Act, 2025, is in effect, the family’s investment profile will determine whether they choose the deduction-based old regime or the default Section 202 regime. Maintaining high legal compliance and maximising the tax outflow need careful preparation regarding the Karta’s residence and the type of asset transfers.

Every salaried employee looked forward to Form 16 at the beginning of the financial year for more than 60 years. It served as the foundation for each ITR file and verified the amount of tax that the employer had deducted and deposited. Form 130 will take its place under the Income Tax Act, 2025. Millions of salaried employees are affected by this change, so knowing when it applies and what it looks like may help avoid confusion when it does.

When Form 130 Is Really Important

It’s worth being precise here, since there’s often confusion about timing. Form 16 continues to apply for FY 2025-26, and employers must issue it by 15th June 2026, exactly as before. Form 130 comes into effect from Tax Year 2026-27, which runs from April 2026 to March 2027. The first Form 130 that employees receive will be issued by 15th June 2027, once this tax year closes. So salaried employees filing returns right now still work with Form 16, but TDS deducted from April 2026 onward is already being recorded under the new system that Form 130 will eventually reflect.

What Form 130 Looks Like

Form 130 is issued under Section 395(4)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 2025, and it serves the same core purpose as Form 16, certifying tax deducted from salary and deposited with the government. It also extends to pensioners and specified senior citizens who have authorised a bank to deduct tax on their interest income, a group Form 16 never fully covered.

Structurally, Form 130 has three parts instead of two:

• Part A carries employer and employee details, along with the employment period, a field that wasn’t explicitly required before.
• Part B summarises the income paid and TDS deducted, reconciled against the employer’s quarterly filings.
• Part C contains detailed annexures, covering salary computation, or pension and interest income for senior citizens

Like its predecessor, Form 130 can only be generated through the TRACES portal, and only after the employer has filed the corresponding quarterly TDS return, now called Form 138, which replaces the earlier Form 24Q. Any version issued outside TRACES isn’t considered valid.

What Employees Should Watch For

Even though Form 130 won’t arrive until mid-2027, a few practical points are worth keeping in mind as this transition unfolds:

• Confirm your employer is filing Form 138 correctly each quarter, since Form 130 depends entirely on this filing being accurate
• Watch for the new employment period field in Part A, especially if you changed jobs during the year
• Once issued, cross-check the TDS figures in Form 130 against Form 168, the new version of Form 26AS, sometimes called the Tax Passbook
• Any mismatch between the two documents should be resolved with the employer before filing the ITR, not after

Since the certificate is generated only after quarterly filings are processed, delays on the employer’s side can push back when you actually receive it, so it helps to raise queries early if your payroll team seems behind schedule.

Conclusion

Salaried employees still have one more filing season with the well-known Form 16 before the move fully takes effect, and Form 130 isn’t arriving overnight. The fundamental change, quarterly filings under Form 138, a wider reach that includes pensioners, and a more complex three-part structure that will influence how income and deductions are reported after Form 130 finally arrives in mid-2027 have already begun.

For the first half of 2026, Indian accountants had to get used to a new method of reporting TDS. The 1961 Act was repealed by the Income Tax Act, 2025 on April 1st, 2026, and a set of numerical payment codes replaced the well-known Section 194 series. For a post-April transaction, a challan or quarterly report that still displays an outdated section number is deemed faulty. Completing TDS files correctly now requires understanding how the old system relates to the new one.

Why the System Changed

TDS provisions were distributed throughout sections 192 to 194T of the previous Act. This is reduced to three parent parts in the 2025 Act. TDS on salaries is covered under Section 392, which supersedes Section 192. Almost all non-salary payments are covered by Section 393, which replaces sections 194A, 194C, 194H, 194I, 194J, and several others. Section 206C has been replaced by Section 394, which addresses tax collection at the source.

The new system gives a payment a four-digit code within a specified range rather than calling it by section. Resident TDS, non-resident TDS, and TCS categories include the total of 92 codes.

How the Codes Map to Old Sections

Some of the most common payment types and their new codes include:

• Salary payments, earlier under Section 192, are now code 1001 under Section 392.
• Contractor payments to individuals or HUFs, earlier Section 194C at 1%, now code 1005
• Contractor payments to companies or firms, earlier Section 194C at 2%, now code 1006
• Interest paid by banks, earlier Section 194A, now code 1008
• Rent on land or buildings, earlier Section 194I, now code 1017
• Commission or brokerage, earlier Section 194H, now code 1014
• Technical services and royalty, earlier Section 194J at 2%, now code 1026
• Professional fees and director remuneration, earlier Section 194J at 10%, now codes 1027 and 1028

A handful of codes, including 1007, 1010, 1025, and 1036, appeared in draft forms but weren’t individually notified as of this writing. It’s best to hold off on using these until confirmed, or check with a tax consultant.

The Transition Rule and Form Changes

The rule that decides which act applies isn’t about when you deposit the tax. It depends on whichever comes earlier, the date you credit the payee in your books or the date you actually pay them. If that earlier event falls on or before 31st March 2026, the old Act and its section numbers still apply, even if the deposit happens later. If the earlier event falls on or after 1st April 2026, the new Act and its numeric codes take over.

For instance, crediting a contractor in your books on 28th March 2026 but paying on 5th April 2026 still counts as an old-Act transaction, since the credit date comes first. If both the credit and payment for another vendor happen after 1st April, the new code applies instead.

Alongside the codes, the return forms have changed names too. Form 24Q is now Form 138, Form 26Q is now Form 140, Form 27Q is now Form 144, and Form 27EQ is now Form 143. Payee certificates have changed as well, replacing the older Form 16 and Form 16A formats.

Avoiding Common Filing Errors

This quarter, a few errors are occurring often. On a post-April transaction, using an outdated section number makes the return inaccurate and may prevent the payee’s credit from accurately reflecting. Create distinct challans for each period because combining transactions from before and after April on one challan also results in validation failures. Another common error that causes processing delays is filing on the incorrect form, such as utilising the outdated Form 26Q for transactions that should be on Form 140.

Conclusion

The Income Tax Act of 2025’s change to numeric TDS codes affects every challan, return, and certificate a business files, making it more than just a name change. Businesses can avoid faulty returns and notices by being familiar with the new code ranges, using the appropriate transition rule, and updating accounting software on time. For the rest of the year, filings will go more smoothly if old sections are mapped to their new codes.

Quarterly TDS returns have carried the familiar names for years: Form 24Q, 26Q, 27Q, and 27EQ. That changed from 1st April 2026, when the Income Tax Act, 2025, came into force and renumbered every one of these forms. Those still using the old names in payroll templates or filing checklists need to update them, since returns submitted under old numbers for this period get rejected on validation.

What the New Forms Cover

Each old form now has a direct replacement, and the underlying purpose hasn’t changed:

• Form 24Q is now Form 138, used for TDS on salary payments.
• Form 26Q is now Form 140, used for TDS on non-salary payments to residents.
• Form 27Q is now Form 144, used for TDS on payments to non-residents.
• Form 27EQ is now Form 143, used for Tax Collected at Source.

For Q1 of FY 2026-27, covering April to June, all four returns share the same due date, 31st July 2026. This is a genuine change for TCS filers, who used to submit Form 27EQ two weeks earlier than the TDS returns. Under Form 143, that gap has closed, and TCS collectors now follow the same schedule as everyone else.

Filing the Return Correctly

Before you build the return, reconcile every TDS deposit made during the quarter against your bank challans, and confirm each one was tagged under Tax Year 2026-27 rather than the older Assessment Year format. A mismatch here can misallocate a payment to the wrong year’s records and create reconciliation trouble later.

It helps to work through the filing in order:

1. Confirm the correct form for each deduction category, Form 138 for salary, Form 140 for resident non-salary, Form 144 for non-resident payments, and Form 143 for TCS.
2. Verify the updated section code for every payment type against the current CBDT mapping, rather than relying on last year’s codes from memory.
3. Match deductee PAN details carefully, since PAN errors are a common reason for correction filings later on.
4. Generate the return file using an RPU or FVU utility version that supports the new form numbers.
5. Submit the return on the portal and save the acknowledgement once accepted.
6. Issue TDS certificates to deductees soon after filing. The salary certificate, earlier called Form 16, now goes by the name Form 130, though its content and purpose haven’t changed.

Penalties and a More Stringent Correction Window

Missing the due date still carries the same consequences as before. A late fee of Rs 200 per day applies under Section 234E, capped at the total TDS or TCS amount for that quarter, with no discretion to waive it once a return is filed late. Persistent or inaccurate filing can also draw a penalty ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 100,000 under Section 271H.

One more change worth noting, corrections to a filed statement, such as fixing a wrong PAN or an incorrect section code, must generally be made within two years from the end of the relevant financial year. Older statements with uncorrected errors may fall outside this window soon, so it’s worth clearing them up alongside your current filing.

Conclusion

Filing Q1 FY 2026-27 correctly is less about learning something new and more about updating labels, codes, and templates that stayed unchanged for years. Confirm the right form for each payment category, verify section codes against the current mapping, and reconcile your challans before the 31st July deadline. Getting this first quarter right makes every filing after it considerably smoother.