TDS & TCS: filings, backlogs & TRACES corrections
TDS filed once, not filed and corrected
Quarterly statements, deduction certificates, and TRACES corrections — with the data checked before it goes in.
In short
Depositing the tax on time, filing a correct quarterly statement, issuing certificates to deductees, and clearing any defaults on TRACES. GSTserve checks PANs and challans before each statement is filed, so credit reaches the deductee the first time, and takes on backlogs and correction work.
Buying from a non-resident seller? How NRI property sales work
TDS runs on quarterly deadlines and unforgiving data. One wrong PAN in a statement and your deductee loses credit; one mismatched challan and TRACES raises a default. GSTserve validates PANs and challans before each statement is submitted, so the quarterly returns go in correctly the first time — and the correction cycle, where most TDS cost actually lives, never starts.
- Validated at the gate
- PANs and challans checked before the statement is submitted, not after a default.
- Certificates issued
- The deduction certificates your deductees are owed, generated and sent.
- Defaults cleared
- Correction statements and default resolution on TRACES, with the cause identified.
What’s included
The statements and the certificates, and the corrections you should not need.
- Quarterly statements for salary, non-salary and non-resident deductions, and for tax collected at source
- Generation and issue of the deduction certificates your deductees are owed
- Correction statements and default resolution on TRACES
- PAN and challan validation before every filing
- Reconciliation of deductions with your annual tax statement and the Annual Information Statement
- Applications for lower or nil deduction under s.395(1)
- TDS filings on property purchases
- Backlogs: missed or late quarterly statements filed and brought up to date
- Computation of late-filing fee and interest exposure
A note on form numbers. We work to the Income-tax Rules, 2026. Those Rules renumber the TDS and TCS forms, and the department is still issuing corrections to them. So each statement above is described by what it does, not by a number that may change. As the numbering settles, we will print it here.
Who this is for
Employers running payroll, businesses paying contractors, rent, or professional fees, and individuals buying property above the withholding threshold — anyone who deducts tax and must account for it quarterly.
Buying from a non-resident seller?
The obligation is not the 1% that applies to a resident seller, and getting it wrong is the buyer’s liability, not the seller’s.
What the buyer must do →Where we stop
Most TDS penalties we see were not caused by a missed deadline. They were caused by a wrong PAN or an unmatched challan, discovered months later. Filing on time is the easy half; filing clean is the work.
Send us your default summary.
Your TRACES default summary is enough. We will tell you what it costs to clear and how to stop it recurring — before you engage us.
Related
Accounting, Book-keeping & Monthly Reconciliations
Payroll processed with statutory deductions, so the quarterly statement is a by-product rather than a scramble.
ExploreIncome Tax & Capital Gains Advisory
Credit that never reached your PAN is the commonest reason a return and a refund disagree.
ExploreQuestions asked on this page
Four asked on this page.
What does quarterly TDS compliance involve beyond depositing the tax?
Deposit is the start. Each quarter, a statement goes to the department mapping every deduction to a PAN and a challan. We validate both before filing — an invalid PAN or a mismatched challan surfaces months later as a default notice — and issue deduction certificates to payees afterwards, so their credit appears where it should. Done in that order, the quarter closes without correspondence.
We have a default notice — short deduction, interest, late fee. What now?
First, establish whether the default is real. Many trace to a mistyped PAN, a challan matched to the wrong quarter, or a deduction reported under the wrong head — errors of record, not of tax. Those are cured by correction statements on TRACES, and the demand falls away. Where tax was genuinely short, we quantify the exposure, deposit what is due, and correct the statement so the matter closes rather than compounds.
A large payment is about to suffer deduction we would only recover at filing. Is there a way round?
Often, yes. A payee can apply for a certificate directing deduction at a lower or nil rate under s.395(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (erstwhile s.197 of the 1961 Act). It is granted on the strength of projected income and past filing record, and it keeps cash in your business through the year instead of parked with the department until the refund. We prepare the application and pursue it to issue.
I am buying property. What are my obligations as the buyer?
Above the statutory threshold, the buyer must deduct tax from the price and file the statement that reports that deduction against the seller’s PAN — the obligation is the buyer’s, not the seller’s, and we handle the filing end to end. When the seller is a non-resident, the regime changes: deduction applies on a different footing at the rate in force, and the filings differ. If your seller lives abroad — or you do — see NRI Tax Compliance before you sign.
The deadline is the easy half. Clean data is the work.
Tell us how many deductees you have and which quarters are open. You’ll get a fixed price and a date, in writing, before any work begins.
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