TDS Late Filing? You Pay ₹200/Day Penalty

If you deduct TDS from salaries, rent, or contractor payments, October and November bring critical filing deadlines. Missing them costs ₹200 per day in late fees — plus interest and prosecution risk. Here's exactly what to do and when.

Here's what happened: October 31 is the deadline to file the Q2 TDS quarterly return (July–September) for deductors — salary, rent, contractor, and professional fee payments all fall under this.. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, late filing attracts a mandatory ₹200 per day fee under Section 234E, capped at the total TDS amount, starting from the due date itself.. November brings TDS certificate issuance deadlines and deposit due dates for October deductions — non-compliance can trigger prosecution for repeat or high-value defaulters..

What you should do: Check your Q2 (July–September) TDS deposit challans on the TRACES portal this week — verify each challan is correctly tagged to your TAN before filing the quarterly return by October 31.. File Form 24Q (salary TDS) or Form 26Q (non-salary TDS) on the TIN-NSDL portal before October 31 — even a one-day delay starts the ₹200/day late fee clock with no waiver option.. Issue Form 16A certificates to vendors and contractors within 15 days of October 31 — set a reminder for November 15 so deductees can reconcile their 26AS and AIS statements on time..

If your TDS return shows a mismatch between deposited challan amounts and the return data, file a correction statement immediately — a defective return is treated as a non-filing and the ₹200/day penalty continues to run until the corrected return is accepted.

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